LIBRARY University of IRVINE^ OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS A Revelation and an Indictment of Sovietism BY SAMUEL gOMPERS President of The American Federation of Labor Author of "Labor and the Common Welfare," "Labor and the Employer," etc. With the Collaboration of WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING Author of " Sovietism: The A IB C of Russian Bolshevism According to the Bolshevists". NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright 1921 By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY All Rights Ruentd f tinted in (A t/nld 140 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS called "children's homes" or "boarding schools." The children are not quite so wretchedly fed in these institu- tions as when with their families (though the reports above quoted show they are often starving even in the Soviet "homes") a fact which naturally makes fond parents surrender them "voluntarily" according to the Bolshevists and their cold-blooded "liberal" supporters. But besides this "the theory of the Communist Party that every soul must give a labor contribution to the community carries with it the implication that the in- dividual must be freed from the economic burden of the family. Both men and women are paid on the basis of the individual wage." (British Labor Delegation report.) So with other "reforms." All vital and national im- provements are costly. Therefore none have been made, and all changes are either of secondary importance such as new "movies" or on an utterly insignificant scale for a country of the first magnitude. All claims to the contrary are among the clearest proofs of the bold and unscrupulous character of the Bolshevist propaganda. The Bolshevist leader himself does not make any claim of construction worth boasting about. He is proud of his work of destruction and has said so again and again. All pre-existing civilization is to be destroyed. As for the rest he is proud of his resistance to those who would destroy him. Reconstruction can and must wait. He is very patient, as to construction, as long as he believes the fighting is going his way: In our struggle two main factors are apparent. On the one hand there is the task of destroying, of an- THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE 141 nihilating the heritage received from the bourgeois regime, of suppressing the ceaselessly repeated attempts of the bourgeoisie to destroy the Soviet power. This task has hitherto taken up most of our attention and prevented us from going about the other task, that of reconstruction. (Speech at Political Education Conference November 5, 1920 from Soviet Russia, April 30, 1921.) IX WORLD REVOLUTION; THE ATTEMPT TO OVER- THROW DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS THE foundation of the entire Bolshevist movement as well as the foreign policy of the Soviet Government is world revolution, the overthrow of all existing govern- ments even the most democratic all being regarded as equally "capitalistic." This is the aim of the Russian Communist Party, which is the Soviet Government, and also of the Communist Internationale which shapes the Soviet foreign policy. No compromise of this aim has been adopted or is even projected. In the Bolshevist view the present is a period of closely connected wars and revolutions, all having a com- mon capitalistic cause, and all working towards the same end, a communist world state. The increasing pressure of the proletariat, particularly its victories in some countries, strengthens the resistance of the exploiters and compels them to create new forms of international capitalist solidarity (League of Nations, etc.) which, organizing the systematic exploitation of all nations on a world scale, directs all its efforts to the immediate suppression of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat of all countries. All this inevitably leads to the blending of civil war within various countries with the defensive wars of revolutionary countries, and the struggles of oppressed nations against the yoke of imperialist states. (From 142 WORLD REVOLUTION 143 Programme of the Russian Communist Party (Bol- shevists), Adopted at the VHIth conference of the Party, Moscow, 18-23rd March, 1919, English Transla- tion Published by the Executive Committee of the Com- munist International.) The same thought has been recently expressed by Trot- zky as follows (see Soviet Russia, April 2, 1921) : The international proletariat has set out to seize the power. Whether civil war is or is not "in general" one of the indispensable attributes of revolution "in general" it is nevertheless incontestable that the forward movement of the proletariat, in Russia, in Germany, and in certain parts of what was once Austria-Hungary, has taken on the form of civil war to the bitter end. And that not only on internal fronts but also on external fronts. The military part of this program is in abeyance be- cause of the failure of attempted Bolshevist revolutions in neighboring countries such as Hungary, Bavaria, etc., and also because of the economic and military weakness of the Soviets, but the Soviet regime has not overlooked a single opportunity to assault a weakened neighbor, as we see from the attack on Poland August, 1920, and the recent conquest of Georgia and neighboring territories. The very oath of the Red Army shows it is regarded as a force for "liberating" the world proletariat. The following clauses of the oath are quoted from the report of the Russian delegation of the British Labor Party: Before the working classes of Russia and the whole world, I undertake to carry this name with honour, to follow the military calling with conscience and to pre- 144 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS serve from damage and robbery the national and military possessions as the hair of my head. I undertake to abstain from and to deter any act liable to dishonour the name of citizens of the Soviet Republic ; moreover to direct all my deeds and thoughts to the Great Aim of Liberation of all Workers. The effort of the Soviet "Government" through its Third Internationale to foment revolutions throughout the world continues. Its first aim is revolution now. Where this is impracticable the aim becomes to build up a revolutionary movement prepared to attempt a revolution within a very few years. The immediate pur- pose, in that case, is to undermine all governments, destroy all non-Bolshevist labor organizations, and to make converts who may be relied upon not only to give the Russian Soviet Government moral support but to obey all the revolutionary orders it issues. While the world revolution policy has failed to create revolutions, it has succeeded in very large measure in all these secondary objects. It has therefore been a great success from the Bolshevist standpoint, and this is the view of all the Bolshevist leaders. In making trade agreements and other treaties the Bolshevist diplomats find it suits their purpose to make a wholesale denial of the entire world revolution policy, and they have made these denials very frequently from the beginning. A few weeks before the Second Congress of the Third Internationale, where the policy of world revolution was brought into its most complete form, Kalinin, President of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, issued a statement to Poland in which he claimed that the Russian Communists "never attempted WORLD REVOLUTION 145 and are not going to attempt to bring in Communism in foreign countries. ' ' Within ninety days of this state- ment the Bolshevist authorities made repeated declara- tions of their purpose to set up a Soviet government in Poland by force of arms. And when Trotzky, as War Lord, was in Bialystock, in northeastern Poland, he even assumed that Sovietism would rapidly spread from Poland to the entire world. " Bolshevism," he said, "was more powerful than ever and would soon spread to other countries." "In a year, "/he continued, "all Europe will be bolshevist." When we see how totally false was the statement of the President of the Soviets we may begin to realize the complete worthlessness of other statements of the Bolshevist diplomats and, in fact, of all their public declarations issued for foreign consumption. The Com- munist Government of Russia has now entered into solemn agreement with Great Britain not to carry on revolutionary propaganda in British territory. Any such agreement, along with all other promises of the Soviets, was denounced by Secretary Colby as wholly worthless in view of their faithless record and their revolutionary operations through the Third Internation- ale. Secretary Colby said (in his note of August 10, 1920) : The responsible leaders of the regime have frequently and openly boasted that they are willing to sign agree- ments and undertakings with foreign powers while not having the slightest intention of observing such under- takings or carrying out such agreements. Moreover, it is within the knowledge of the Govern- ment of the United States that the Bolshevist Govern- 146 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS ment is itself subject to the control of a political faction with extensive international ramifications through the Third Internationale, and that this body, which is heavily subsidized by the Bolshevist Government from the public revenues of Russia, has for its openly avowed aim the promotion of Bolshevist revolutions throughout the world. The leaders of the Bolsheviki have boasted that their promises of non-interference with other nations would in nowise bind the agents of this body. The preamble to the Soviet constitution declares that one of the main objects in forming a Soviet government is to use it "for the victory of socialism in all lands." In the preamble of the constitution of the Communist Internationale we find the following: The object of the Communist International is a strug- gle with force of arms for the suppression of the inter- national bourgeoisie, and the creation of an International Soviet Republic, as a transitional stage for the complete suppression of the State. At its Second Congress, July, 1920, this Internationale expressed itself even more strongly: The Communist International fully and unreservedly upholds the gains of the great proletarian revolution in Russia, the first victorious socialist revolution in the world's history, and calls upon all workers to follow the same road. The Communist International makes it its duty to support by all the power at its disposal every Soviet Republic wherever it may be formed. Among the "slogans" of the dominating Russian Communist Party presented at that gathering were these: WORLD REVOLUTION 147 Through the III International to the world dictator- ship of the proletariat, and through the dictatorship of the proletariat to the abolition of classes and the most complete liberation of mankind. Long live the III International, which is fighting to establish an International Soviet of Workmen's Deputies. The most important action taken at this congress was the formulation of the "twenty-one points." The send- ing of these points as an ultimatum to all the socialist parties of Europe had the following results: First, the powerful Independent Socialist Party in Germany was split and the majority faction entered the Third Internationale, accepting the domination of Mos- cow and all the twenty-one points. Second, the same result occurred in the congress of the French Socialist Party in December, 1920. Third, a powerful element in the Italian Socialist Party took the same action in the middle of February, the remainder of the party also adhering to the Third Internationale but demanding a certain measure of autonomy. Similar results occurred in other European countries. A powerful group of socialist and labor or- ganizations, refusing to repudiate or condemn the Com- munist Internationale, also decided not to enter into it at the present moment but to attempt to form a new international organization in which the communist par- ties are to be an important part. Thus the effort of the communists to control the socialist parties of Europe has made considerable prog- ress within the last year, though failing to capture the movement as a whole and failing also to convert the 148 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS majority of labor unionists, with the possible exception of Italy. The revolutionary communist movement directed from Moscow is, then, a formidable force on the continent of Europe. Let us now recall that among the most im- portant of the twenty-one revolutionary points accepted by all adhering organizations are the following: In almost all the countries of Europe and America the class war is entering the phase of civil war. Under such conditions Communists can have no confidence in bour- geois legality. They are bound to create everywhere a parallel illegal organization, which at the decisive mo- ment will help the party to fulfil its duty towards the Revolution. . . . All decisions of the Congress of the Communist Inter- national, as also the decisions of its Executive Commit- tee, are binding for all parties belonging to the Com- munist International. When in the Martens case ex-Secretary of Labor, W. B. Wilson, decided that the Russian Communist Party was an organization that " advocates the over- throw by violence of the Government of the United States," the Administration had every possible docu- mentary evidence to prove its case. Naturally the belief of the Bolshevists in impending revolt fluctuates with their victories and defeats. But the utility to the Soviet Government of revolutionary agitation and revolutionary propaganda and violence in all countries continues regardless of such contingencies. We have noted Trotzky's optimism when his armies were in Poland. Again, when the armies of General Wrangel were overthrown in November, 1920, Lenin declared: WORLD REVOLUTION 149 This triumph of bolshevism is the most gigantic ever dreamed of, but the victory is incomplete until every part of Europe has been revolutionized. A month later, in an open letter to the Italian social- ists quoted in Pravda, December 10, 1920, Lenin fear- ing that the revolutionary movement which began in the seizure of factories by the Italian metal workers might be checked by the refusal of foreign capitalists to furnish the indispensable coal and iron, gave this advice : Hasten the revolution in England, in France, in America if these countries decide to blockade the pro- letariat of the Italian Proletarian Republic. At the National Congress of the Soviets on December 23, the leading economic authority among the Commis- saries, Rykoff, said (See Pravda, December 25) : With the possibility of international relations and the coming communistic revolution in western Europe, and since we are nearing our chief aim, the European con- gress of Soviets, we have to direct our attention to the development of those branches of our economic life which will come to our lot in the case of distribution of work among ourselves and western soviet Europe. We must note in these expressions that the Bolshevists find no contradiction between the movement for a trade agreement and the continued movement for world revolt. Indeed, Lenin has advocated arrangements with foreign capitalists from the very beginning of the Bolshevik regime, during the period of the revolutions in Hungary and Bavaria, as well as the wars of conquest against 150 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS the border states, and during all the revolutionary plots set on foot by the Third Internationale. In a speech (quoted in Pravda, November 30, 1920) Lenin explains: We have found the right way to revolution, but this way is not a direct one ; it runs in zig zags. In the letter to the Italian communists already quoted Lenin advises them that in order to bring the country to revolution at the earliest possible moment which he believes will be very soon in Italy it is necessary to move first to the right and then to the left. The failure of the Italian revolutionary movement in October and of the German revolutionary movement in March led Lenin to propose one of his momentary zig zags or move- ments to the right. The date for the big revolutionary movements in Europe has been postponed for a year or two. As Trotzky is reported recently to have declared : The proletarian revolution in America and Europe will be found if not in the approaching months then in the approaching years. Touching upon the same subject at the International Communist Congress in July, 1920, Zinovieff trucu- lently exclaimed: "Well, what about it?" we shall say to every bour- geois: "Yes, perhaps we were wrong; not one year, but two or three will be necessary for all Europe to become Soviet. You still have a short period of grace before you will be destroyed. But if you have now become so modest that you rejoice at these few months of grace, WORLD REVOLUTION 151 or a few years, then we, in any case, congratulate you on your unusual modesty." It is the belief, however, of Zinovieff and of all the Bolshevist leaders that even if revolutions are not ma- terializing very rapidly or as speedily as expected that the revolutionary movement which is so valuable to the communists in other particulars is continuing to spread and that because of it they can rely more and more upon support and aid in one form or another from the entire labor movement of Europe. In other words, they believe that their propaganda is bearing more and more fruit and there is much to support their view. In an article in the Petrograd Pravda, November 7, 1920, Zinovieff wrote: Three years ago, we were absolutely alone on the inter- national arena. We know and believed that the inter- national proletariat would understand and appreciate our movements, and would be with us. But at the same time we could not fail to see that at that time the inter- tional proletariat as yet was not with us. And how all this has now been radically changed! Yes, the International Proletarian Revolution is devel- oping much less rapidly than we had wished. But never-the-less it moves forward. Why have the Imperialist giants, the robber League of Nations, and the very rich and blood-thirsty bourgeoisie of England, France, and America failed to date to de- stroy the single proletarian Republic Soviet Russia? But they did not do this solely because the working class of Europe and America is in its heart behind us. The Bolshevist leaders realize and confess that the strength of their movement in Russia is very largely 152 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS due to the support they have obtained from certain elements of labor outside of Russia. For in addition to the European revolutionary parties and factions already referred to other more or less neutral labor bodies have undoubtedly given them very valuable moral and defensive support. All the successes of Soviet policy, to whatever ex- traneous causes they may be due, are attributed by the Bolshevists to the merit of their foreign propaganda and the invincibility of their international movement. This may be seen from a speech delivered by Lenin at a convention of the Communist Party in Moscow (Krasnaya Gazetta, November 23, 1920) : The world revolution, by whose aid alone we can win, does not mature at the speed with which we hoped for in the beginning. But we have obtained not merely a breathing spell, but the possibility of existing amidst bourgeois countries. This means that the revolution has already matured within those countries. After a period of three years, the Imperialists are compelled to give up their struggle against Russia which has, in comparison with their own military resources, practically none. Our foes, burning with desire to crush us by armed force, are now compelled to conclude agreements with us, and to contribute to our consolidation and strength- ening. At the Communist Congress earlier in the year Lenin had said (see Soviet Russia, August 23, 1920) : We not only won over to our side the workers of all countries, but also succeeded in winning the bourgeoisie WORLD REVOLUTION 153 of the small countries, for the imperialists oppress not only the workers of their countries but also the bour- geoisie of the small nations. You know how we "won over the wavering middle class within the advanced countries. This absolute disintegration of our adversaries who were sure of their power, shows that they are but a handful of capitalist beasts at odds among themselves and absolutely powerless to fight us. Here the Bolshevist chief discloses the secret of such "success" as he has been able to attain throughout the world: his propaganda has succeeded in deceiving not only a large number of workingmen but also con- siderable elements of the middle classes. Taking up some remarks of Lenin's at the Tenth Congress of the Socialist Russian Party in March, 1921, the Bolshevist press of America, assisted by pro-Bol- shevist "liberal" publications, by the yellow press, and by commercially directed newspapers blinded by short- sighted greed, all joined together to claim that he had abandoned world revolution together with communism and all the other foundations of Bolshevism. What Lenin actually said was: "Were we to suppose that presently we would get help in the form of a firmly established proletarian revolution, we would be lunatics, ' ' this speech being made in answer to a very small group of ultra-extremists who opposed trade agreements, not realizing that they were entirely consistent with the policy of world revolution. Lenin's words are very carefully chosen. He does not say that help from a proletarian revolution is not to be expected; he says only that early help from "a firmly established" pro- letarian revolution cannot be counted upon. In other 154 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS words, he still expects the revolutionary movement to develop with steadily increasing intensity and to reach such a point that it will be helpful to the Soviets, even economically, before the lapse of many years. Eeferring to the question of world revolution, Lenin said: Aid is coming from the Western European countries. It is not coming as fast as we should like it, but it is coming nevertheless and gathering strength. Of course, the world revolution has made a great step forward, in comparison with last year. We have learned to under- stand during the last three years that basing ourselves on an international revolution does not mean calculating on a definite date, and that the increasing rapidity of development may bring a revolution in the spring (1921) or it may not. Of course, the Communist In- ternational which last year existed merely in the form of proclamations is now existing as an independent party in every country. ... In Germany, France and Italy the Communist International has become not only the centre of the labor movement but the focus of attention for the whole political life of those countries. This is our conquest, and no one can deprive us of it. The world revolution is growing stronger, while the economic crisis in Europe is getting worse at the same time. But, at any rate, were we to draw from this the conclusion that help would come from there within a brief period in the shape of a solid proletarian revolu- tion, we would be simply lunatics; but in this hall, I feel certain, there are none such. We must, therefore, know how to adapt our activity to the mutual class relations existing within our own and other countries, that we may be able for a long time to retain the dictatorship of the proletariat and, at least gradually, to cure all the ills and crises besetting us. Only such a view of the problem will be correct and sober. (Pravda, March 10, 1921.)' WORLD REVOLUTION 155 Surely all this is a far cry from "abandoning the world revolution!" It was as late as July, 1920, that the Third Internation- ale declared that ' ' in nearly every country of Europe and America the class struggle is entering upon the phase of civil war while as late as December (1920) it con- verted the French Socialist majority to that view. Discouraging and encouraging events have taken place since that time, but the total result of all revolu- tionary movements during recent months is far from such as to discourage visionary fanatics like the Bol- shevists. At the meeting of March 15 Kameneff made a report on foreign policy to the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party: "We must consider," began Kameneff, "our relations with the capitalist states, seeing that our supposition of the speedy assistance which should come to us from Western Europe in the form of a world revolution has not been carried out with the rapidity for which we hoped. Though counting on the world revolution, we must shape our practical policy in such a way that it will be possible to take action at any time, should the course of world development force us to fight for the existence of our isolated Soviet Republic. The words italicized again give a very satisfactory portrayal of the precise state of the Bolshevist mind as regards world revolution. The rest of this speech develops the grounds for the Bolshevist hopes. While indicating the usual state of extreme ignorance, these remarks are important as showing the pro-German pre- judices, the hatred of America and England, the ex- pectation of the Bolshevists that they will participate in future wars (it is strange that the pacifist extremists 156 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS /- insist upon continuing their support of these militaristic and imperialistic fanatics) and also the willingness of the Soviets to arm the Asiatic against the European races. Kftmeneff continues: The great Powers have gained their end. They have succeeded in dividing up the world between them. The victorious powers have not only subjugated colonies and semi-colonies, but many countries such as Austria and Germany, are entirely dependent on them. A small party of the richest countries has divided up the world, converting the most cultured countries in Europe, Ger- many and Austria, into their enslaved vassals. The danger of a new world war is arising. The strug- gle will be for the possession of the shores of the Pacific Ocean and will take place between the former Allies, England and America, while Japan will support Eng- land. It may be presumed that all the capitalist states will again be involved in this new struggle, only a rising of the world proletariat can prevent this new world catastrophe. Soviet Russia took no part in the division of the world. Thanks to the three years' war Soviet Russia gained the right to an independent existence. This in- dependence will make it possible for us to take up sides in the various historical events of the world. . . . Soviet Russia is not isolated. Soviet Russia only in the "West borders on capitalist states. In the East her neighbour is truly revolutionary Asia. The fact that we still exist is explained by the circumstance that a balance of power has been created between capitalist Europe and revolutionary Asia. Soviet Russia is situ- ated half way between the East and West. In a long communication to the Independent Labor Party the Third Internationale last summer outlined another war this time it was a war of the world against WORLD REVOLUTION 157 Great Britain and America. This also is a war from which the Bolshevists hoped to gain: It is probable that when throwing off the chains of the capitalist Governments, the revolutionary proletariat of Europe will meet the resistance of Anglo-Saxon capi- tal in the persons of British and American capitalists, who will attempt to blockade it. It is then possible the revolutionary proletariat of Europe will arise in union with the peoples of the East and commence a revolu- tionary struggle, the scene of which will be the entire world, to deal the final blow at British and American capitalists. The pro-German tendency of the propaganda is al- ways in evidence. The Bolshevists are particularly friendly to the Germans in the attack on the Versailles Treaty. We may see an illustration of this in a speech of Lenin's early in 1920: The Germans are, above all, our auxiliaries because their hope of escaping from the penal clauses of the Peace treaty rests on causing disorder and agitation with a view to profit by the general confusion which will then arise. They seek revenge we revolution. This friendliness to the German junkers is also seen in a statement of Trotzky when he was at the Polish front : It is said that the Russian communists were the serfs of the Prussian junkers, but that must not weigh with us. It must not be forgotten that organized Germany constitutes a danger to world imperialism, and nothing must oppose an understanding with Germany for the destruction of the imperialist governments of Europe. '158 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS We prefer such an understanding to fraternization with the so-called free countries. At the same time the Bolshevists have endeavored to line up for war upon England and France, alongside the junkers, the junkers' bitter enemies, the German com- munists. The revolutionary German socialist leader Crispien, just returned from a visit to Russia at the invitation of the Soviets declared: The Russian Soviet Government intended to make war on France if the Polish campaign had been successful, and England also would have been attacked. The Soviets were counting on the aid of the German communists." (From Crispien 's speech at the Halle Congress of the Independent Socialist Party October 13, 1920.) While the Soviets rely largely upon wars out of which revolutions are expected to arise, they rely still more upon the direct results of revolutionary propaganda and organization through the Third Internationale. Their complicity in the German revolutionary movement of March, 1921, for example, is proved by the open asser- tions of the Moscow communist organ in Berlin, Die Rote Fahne. In spite of such absolutely conclusive evidence and of innumerable other instances of equally stupid Bolshe- vist duplicity several entirely conservative non-Bolshe- vist newspapers in America and England insisted that it was incredible that Moscow could at the same time be instigating revolutions and seeking trade by govern- mental agreements! X THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE THE Third Internationale is the child of the Russian Communist Party. It was created here, in the Kremlin on the initiative of the Communist Party of Russia. The Executive Committee of the Third Internationale is in our own hands. (Report of Radek, Secretary of Third Internationale, to Ninth Congress of Russian Communist Party Pravda, April 3rd, 1920.) At the Second Congress of the Communist Interna- tionale held, at Moscow in August, 1920, the following resolution was passed: The World Congress is the supreme organ of the Com- munist International. The World Congress elects an Executive Committee of the Communist International which serves as the lead- ing organ in the intervals between the (annual) World Congresses. In his report to the Congress, President Zinoviev further explained the dictatorial powers possessed by the Moscow Executive: The Congress has also emphasized the need of a united Communist International organization and has worked out its statute, according to which the executive com- mittee of the III International is given very wide powers, 159 160 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS including that of expelling from the International a whole party for violation of discipline. Another resolution passed unanimously by the Con- gress indicated that the control of the Russian Commu- nist Party over this world revolutionary movement is absolute. This resolution declared: The need of a strong world unity of the proletariat is too evident to allow discussion of any kind of autonomy. Although there are "only" five Russians on the Inter- national Executive Committee, as a matter of fact, all the other ten members were practically appointed by the Russian Bolshevists and their names indicate ab- solute subserviency, since with one or two exceptions they have little or no representative capacity. For example, the late John Reed was selected to represent America! With the sole exception of Italy, only the most extreme of extremists were chosen. Moreover the permanent bureau or directing body of the Executive Committee consists of three Russians out of five mem- bers: Zinoviev, Bukharin and Radek. This body now claims to have the sole right to repre- sent the proletariat of the world and in their name pro- poses to overthrow all governments ! Revolutionists who do not obey orders, such as d'Arragona, head of the Con- federation of Labor of Italy, are immediately branded as traitors to the working-class. The application of this principle of the divine right of the Russian Bolshevists to control "the world revolu- tion" was amusingly represented at the Congress in the THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE 161 speeches of Lenin dealing with, the revolutionary move- ment in Great Britain. Here are some passages, as reported in the Bolshevist press: Lenin protests against the supposition that the pecu- liar situation of the English labor movement requires that the decision as to the line of conduct of the British Socialist Party should be left in the latter 's free judg- ment. Lenin does not understand why in such a case this Congress and this International are necessary. Such tactics should be considered one of the worst traditions left by the activity of the II International. The 2nd Congress of the III International will, of course, act differently and will discuss in detail in the proper committee all the conditions of the English labor move- ment and the tasks resulting therefrom. . . . Despite the opinion of Comrade MacLean, the Labor Party does not express the political state of mind of the working class of England as organized in trade- unions; it expresses the views and state of mind of its leaders, who are the most bourgeois, reactionary hand- maid of British Imperialism. It is necessary that the party should effectively represent the ideology and in- terests of the proletariat. . . . Furthermore, these traitors are at the head of the Labor Party which presents an unprecedented situation, for the latter expresses the political will of 4,000,000 workmen organized in its ranks. . . . You are constantly speaking of the differences between the conditions in England and those in other countries. In so far as you enter the Communist International, you must remember that you must be guided not only by the experience of England but also by general revolu- tionary experience. After the speech of Comrade Lenin the theses are put to a vote. Comrade Zinoviev proposed to vote first, and separately, on the thesis relating to the entrance of the 162 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS British Socialist Party into the Independent Labor Party of England. This Thesis is adopted by a majority of 48 to 34 with two abstaining. This amazing act of coercion against the left wing of British labor, as the vote shows, was almost too much even for the hand-picked and thoroughly disciplined delegates of the Communist Internationale. Lenin's plan to capture the Independent Labor Party in this manner was, doubtless, not quite so wild as the plan of the British Communist delegates who were voted down. These latter wished to attack not only the British Labor Party, though it is pro-Soviet in its foreign policy, but also the revolutionary Independent Labor Party which expresses the warmest admiration for Sovietism in Russia, but does not wish to have it in England and will not take orders from Moscow further than leaving the Second and Socialist Internationale at Moscow's suggestion. Lenin's tactics on the surface were some- what less impractical. But they were futile in any event as the Independent Labor Party, at its succeeding con- gress, repudiated Communism by an overwhelming ma- jority, leading to the secession of the small minority of Communists as ordered by Lenin for all countries. Whether, from the Communist-revolutionary standpoint, this outcome in Great Britain justified Lenin's tactics or not, the British Communists were allowed little to say on the subject. The autocratic control of Moscow is the key to the tactics of the Third Internationale. The Communists are unanimously agreed that if it is to succeed their revolution must be a world revolution. They are unan- imously agreed that it must therefore have a highly THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE 163 centralized control. They are equally agreed that Soviet Russia is the only "proletarian" country to-day, that it has led the world in revolutionary tactics, that it has started the world revolution and organized the only genuinely proletarian internationale. They are agreed, too, that the iron dictatorship established in Soviet Rus- sia and within the Russian Communist Party furnishes a model for the international organization. This is the feeling of the extreme revolutionists and communists of all countries. But Moscow goes much farther. It feels that the fate of Soviet Russia carries with it the fate of the world revolution and that there- fore all that pertains to its safety and welfare must be given first consideration. It feels that as the light has come from Soviet Russia the light must continue to come from Soviet Russia. It feels that Russia has already experienced what other countries must experience. Rus- sia is the older sister, the others must follow in her foot-steps. None of these ideas are shared even by the extremists of other countries. Lenin sometimes says, and possibly believes, he is allowing for the divergencies of other countries and treating them as equals. But this is scarcely consonant with his astounding twenty-one points, by which he drove away even such ardent and docile supporters as the leaders of the Italian Socialists. His real state of mind is portrayed in his speech before the All-Russian Political Education Conference (Novem- ber 5th, 1920), in which he said: The union of all great capitalist countries of the world against Russia, against Soviet Russia this is the whole business of the present international political situation, and we must be entirely clear as to the fact that the 164 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS fate of hundreds of millions of workers in the capitalist countries depends on this fact. In our country we experienced such a manifold shap- ing of events in the Kerensky period, among the Social Revolutionists and the Social Democrats, such a varie- gated color scheme in the various towns of Russia, that we may say that we have been tested more than any other people. If we look toward Western Europe we shall see that the same thing is now going on there that hap- pened in our country. We are beholding a repetition of our own history. This is nothing less than revolutionary chauvinism, similar to the doctrine of the French revolutionists when they undertook to force their creed on other peoples by the aid of the bayonet. But it is infinitely more crude. For while France was one of the most advanced countries of Europe, Soviet Russia is one of the most backward. The Communist Internationale is now functioning in the United States and declares as its principal imme- diate object the destruction of the American Federation of Labor. By methods of secrecy, by its hold upon cer- tain entirely foreign elements who do not understand anything about American conditions or American labor organizations, by the laid of the large sums it receives from Russia and by the sympathy and assistance it secures from our numerous "parlor Bolshevists" this organization is able to give considerable trouble to the American Labor movement. The danger very largely takes the form of publications supporting the Soviet cause in the United States. Only a few of these are openly Communist. But a large num- ber of publications and writers take the Communist posi- THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE 165 tion of hostility with regard to the Federation of Labor combined with friendship to Bolshevism. There can be no doubt that some of them are subsidized by Moscow. A resolution passed by the Second Congress of the Com- munist Internationale declared: The Communist parties must create a new type of periodical press for extensive circulation among the workmen; (1) Lawful publications in which the Com- munists without calling themselves such and without mentioning their connection with the party, would learn to utilize the slightest possibility allowed by the laws. (2) Illegal sheets. One of the first actions taken by the new Bolshevist Government after it seized power was to vote money for such purposes. Here is one of its first decrees: The Soviet of People's Commissaries deems it neces- sary to bring all possible means, including money to the aid of the Left International Wing of the workers' movement in all lands, quite regardless of whether these countries are at war or in alliance with Russia; or whether they are neutral. To that end the Soviet of People's Commissaries, orders to appropriate for the needs of the revolutionary international movement 2,000,000 rubles, to be taken charge of by the foreign representative of the Commis- sariat of Foreign Affairs. (Signed) President, Soviet People's Commissaries, VI. Ulianoff (Lenin) (Signed) People's Commissary of Foreign Affairs, L. Trotzky. (Published in Izvestia, Dec, 13, 1917, p. 9.) 166 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS Far from denying this governmentally subsidized propaganda the entire Bolshevist press of the world openly boasts of it. In the report of the Executive Committee of the Com- munist Internationale to the Second World Congress of the Communist Internationale, Zinoviev wrote : Russian workmen, to whom the progressive workmen of other countries have rendered brotherly assistance during the course of two decades, have considered it their proletarian duty now to render similar brotherly assistance to the struggling proletariat that is in more difficult material circumstances. With respect to the assistance in money which the Communist International has rendered to brotherly par- ties, the yellow Social Democrats, with the support of the tatlers of the bourgeoisie press, have raised a lot of noise in various countries of Europe. People who do not consider it disgraceful to use material support given by the brigand-like League of Nations raise shouts of protest because the workmen (!) of one country sup- port their brothers in another country. The workmen themselves did not take this attitude toward the matter. The Italian Communists, for ex- ample, practically declared quite openly that i^ome of their party organizations were able to be founded only because the Communist International rendered brotherly assistance to the Italian workmen. The workmen com- munists in other countries have made similar declara- tions. . . . The entire western European bourgeois press, which is bought up by capital, has not ceased to throw dirt at communism because of the subsidy which the daily British Socialist paper, "Daily Herald," was receiving from the Russian proletariat. This last statement was publicly denied by the Lon- THE COMMUNIST INTERNATIONALE 167 don Daily Herald, but many facts are known to point in the contrary direction. It will be noted that the Bol- shevists treat the entire labor press and even the non- Bolshevist Socialist press as "bourgeois." The Bolshevists regard their enormous expenditures in mendacious propaganda as having been brilliantly successful and there is some ground for their claim. Zinoviev has recently summed up this success at length in Pravda, November 7, 1920. We note a few sentences : The campaign of slander was very well organized by the bourgeoisie and by its lackeys from the II "Inter- nationale"; it was organised, one may say, scientifically and with talent. But nevertheless, we can say with the greatest pride, that we came out victorious from this unequal struggle. . . . Up to the present, the international proletariat as a whole was on the defensive, and now it will be able to assume the offensive. . . . When Soviet troops were at the gates of Warsaw, it became particularly clear that the international pro- letariat is entering on a stage which can be called : pass- ing from the defensive to the offensive. . . . The Council of Action in London, which showed such brilliant activity for a couple of weeks, was undoubtedly the forerunner of English Soviets of Workmen's Depu- ties. Zinoviev 's reference to the Second Internationale also includes as non-proletarian and bourgeois the entire non-Bolshevist Labor Union and Socialist press of Europe. Krassin has also made recent reference to the success of the Soviet propaganda, frankly stating that "the hostility of Great Britain had been overcome by propa- 168 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS ganda." If we recall the ceaseless campaign of falsifica- tion concerning not only Russia but the entire labor movement of the world that is being carried on by the London Daily Herald and other Sovietist or pro-Soviet organs of Great Britain, circulated not only in that country but all over the world, we can realize the enormous damage that has been inflicted upon the British labor movement by the gold which the Bolshevists have looted from the poverty-stricken population of Kussia. iTHE NEW RED LABOR UNION INTER- NATIONALE OPERATING solely in the field of politics, propaganda, and insurrection the Communist Internationale was not a perfect instrument for the purposes of the Soviets. The Communist, or Third Internationale, from its found- ation in March, 1919, had directed its operations mainly, not against the bourgeoisie, but against what it calls "bourgeois" labor as represented in the Second or Socialist Internationale. But it soon discovered that the most formidable labor enemies of Bolshevism are not the political Socialists of the Right or of the Center (the orthodox Marxist followers of Kautsky, Longuet, etc.) but the labor unions of the world, from the American Federation of Labor to the British and German unions and even the syndicalistic French Confederation. At the Congress of the Communist Internationale at Moscow in the summer of 1920, Lenin issued the follow- ing declaration of war against organized labor, thinly veiled as a war against leaders: Our main enemy is title opportunism in the upper ranks of tlie labor movement. This is not a Socialist or proletarian, but a bourgeois movement. That these leaders of the labor movement are defending the bour- geoisie better than the bourgeoisie itself, and that with- out their assistance the bourgeoisie could not maintain 169 170 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS itself is shown not only by the regime of Kerensky, but also by the present democratic republic in Germany, and by the attitude of Albert Thomas and Henderson toward their bourgeois Governments. Here is our main enemy; we must triumph over this enemy, and leave this Congress with a unanimous and firm decision to carry this struggle through to the end in att countries. This. is our main task. If that part of the labor movement whicE utterly repu- diates Bolshevism is to be called "the upper ranks" then recent elections throughout the labor movement of Europe have proven that fully three-fourths of the mem- bership is to be so classified. Bolshevist enmity makes no distinction between the American Federation of Labor and the European unions adhering to the Amsterdam International Federation of Trade Unions. The fact that this international body was ready to declare not only a general strike but a food blockade of the Polish people and to forcibly inter- rupt the shipment of food and munitions to Poland, all in order to aid the Soviets to accomplish their declared purpose of conquering the Poles, counted for nothing in the minds of the would-be world dictators at Moscow. In spite of the servile attitude of nearly all the political parties of the Second, or Socialist, Internationale and of the controlling elements in the Amsterdam Trades Union Internationale, the Moscow dictators administer nothing but rebuffs to everybody who refuses to accept their absolute rule and demand that all existing organ- izations be wholly reshaped according to Moscow's revolutionary specifications. The Bolshevists therefore decided at Moscow, last THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 171 July, to form a new Internationale of Red Labor Unions. This organization is based upon the fictitious member- ship of five millions claimed by the official Russian Soviet trade unions, upon the temporary adhesion of the Italian Confederation of Labor with its two million, members although this organization is at present rather outside than inside the Communist Internationale, and upon lesser but equally doubtful claims in other coun- tries. The Communist Internationale adopted, by an overwhelming majority, the following amendment pro- posed by Radek in connection with this new Red Inter- nationale : It is the one weapon of the world revolutionary move- ment against the yellow International, because the prin- cipal enemy of the revolutionary proletariat is not Brus- sels but Amsterdam that is the yellow international of trade union organizations. By overthrowing Amster- dam we shall deal the most terrible blow to the capital- istic order, but this blow can be dealt only by the Red International of trade-unions. This Red Internationale is somewhat stronger than at first appears. While it has comparatively little direct support from the labor unions, with the ex- ception of the Latin countries, it has a very strong support from the newly formed Communist par- ties created during the last six months by the split of the Socialist parties according to Moscow orders in several European countries. Thus a majority of the Socialist Party members of France, through the newly created Communist Party, have accepted the dictator- ship of the Moscow Communist Internationale, including 172 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS the entire twenty-one points. A powerful faction of the Socialists in Germany, now organized as the Communist Party and including a million or two supporters, has taken the same action. And, finally, in Italy both the Communist Party and the Socialist Party adhere to the Third Internationale and accept the twenty-one points, although the latter also claims a certain measure of autonomy. The leadership of all these movements is largely in the hands of ''intellectuals" and outsiders, non-members of the labor unions. This is markedly the case with the Italian Communist Party. But the influ- ence on labor is, nevertheless, formidable. jp Of Moscow's twenty-one points accepted by all these so-called labor parties, points nine and ten refer to organized labor. They are as follows: 9. Every party which desires to join the Communist Internationale must systematically and constantly de- velop a communist activity within the trades unions, the workmen's and factory councils, the consumers' societies and other mass organizations of the workmen. "Within these organizations it is necessary to organize Communist ''cells" which by constant, perseverant work shall win the trades unions, &c., over to the cause of Communism. The "cells" are obliged in their daily work to unmask everywhere the treason of the social- patriots and the fickleness of the "Centre." The Com- munist "cells" must be completely subordinated to the whole party. 10. Every party belonging to the Third Internationale is obliged to wage a stubborn war against the Amster- dam "Internationale" of the yellow trade unions. They must most emphatically propagate among the unions of organized workmen the necessity of a breach with the yellow Amsterdam Internationale. They must support THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 173 by all means the rising international unification of red trade unions which join the Communist Internationale. If it is recalled that the orders of the Moscow Execu- tive Committee are absolute over all Communist organ- izations and that Moscow is willing to spend the last gold ruble of the heritage of the Russian people for the disruptive purposes it may be seen that the danger threatening the labor union movement of Continental Europe is considerable. Indeed the French C. G. T. was saved for the cause of labor unionism at the last meeting of the Council only by a very narrow margin of votes. The struggle was most unequal. There is no bribery and corruption fund available for the legitimate labor unions to counterbalance the colossal corruption fund of Moscow. For every dollar legitimately raised and expended by organized labor in self-defense, the Communists, from the loot they have taken from Russian workmen and peasants, are able to spend a thousand. The situation in Great Britain is similar, though some- what less acute. Because of the absence of any powerful Communist political party, the Soviets are forced in that country to act mainly through the subsidy of the labor press and other propaganda, which Krassin admits ob- tained for the Communists the signing of the British trade agreement. The purpose of the new organization was briefly declared by "The International Soviet of Trade Unions," the name which it first assumed. On August 1st, 1920, this body issued a statement from Moscow from which we take the following: The substance of our activity and of our program: 174 OUT OF .THEIR OWN MOUTHS The overthrow of the bourgeoisie by force, the establish- ment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, a merciless class struggle on an international scale, a close and in- separable union with the Communist International. From the first moment of its inauguration the newest Red Internationale was met with grave internal prob- lems. A split was immediately threatened between the ultra-State Socialism of the Eussians who hoped to ex- tend their absolute authority from the Russian State to other nations, and the ultra-revolutionary labor unions of other countries, all of which tend in the direction of syndicalism or anti-Stateism. Apparently the conflict is insoluble, but the Moscow chiefs of the new Inter- nationale decided to use their accepted Macchiavellian tactics of deception and to ''take in" the syndicalist elements as will be demonstrated by the evidence we shall now reproduce. Among the reports unanimously adopted at the Con- gress of the Communist Internationale in July, 1920, was the following: As for the revolutionary Syndicalists, as well as the representatives of shop-stewards, we shall not follow the example of the II International, which always harassed and persecuted all workmen who were not in agreement with its ideas. We shall work in conjunction with all honest and honestly misguided workmen, and together with them we shall learn and make mistakes, because funda- mentally, in our class aims and ideals we represent with them a single proletarian revolutionary whole. Another resolution recommended the most "friendly attitude" and "closer connection" with these organiza- THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 175 tions. The language here chosen is highly significant, as is also the phraseology of the following sentence from the same resolution: As regards the I. "W. W. of America and Australia and the Shop-Steward Committees of England, we have to deal with a genuinely proletarian mass movement which practically adheres to the principles of the Com- munist Internationale. In order, however, to show the utter impossibility of any real compromise on the part of Moscow toward any trade unions or any other body having to deal with it no matter how revolutionary they may be we may quote the following passages on the trade unions from "the theses and statutes adopted by the Third or Com- munist Internationale" at their 1920 Congress. We quote from the official publication issued by the office of the Communist Internationale in Moscow: All voluntary withdrawal from the industrial move- ment, every artificial attempt to organize special unions, without being compelled thereto by exceptional acts of violence on the part of the trade union bureaucracy, such as expulsion of separate revolutionary local branches of the unions by the opportunist officials, or by their narrow-minded aristocratic policy, which pro- hibits the unskilled workers from entering into the organization, represents a great danger to the Communist movement. It threatens to hand over the most advanced, the most conscious workers, to the opportunist leaders, playing into the hands of the bourgeoisie. Placing the object and the essence of labour organiza- tions before them, the Communists ought not to hesitate before a split in such organizations, if a refusal to split 176 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS would mean abandoning revolutionary work in the trade unions, and giving up the attempt to make of them an instrument of revolutionary struggle, the attempt to organize the most exploited part of the proletariat. Where a split between the opportunists and the revolu- tionary trade union movement has already taken place before, where, as in America, alongside of the opportunist trade unions there are unions with revolutionary ten- dencies although not Communist ones there the Com- munists are bound to support such revolutionary unions, to persuade them to abandon Syndicalist prejudices and to place themselves on the platform of Communism, which alone is economic struggle. It is the duty of the Communists in all the phases of the economic struggle to point out to the workers that the success of the struggle is only possible if the working class conquers the capitalists in open fight, and by means of dictatorship proceeds to the organization of a Socialist order. Consequently, the Communists must strive to create as far as possible complete unity between the trade unions and the Communist Party, and to subordinate the unions to the practical leadership of the Party, as the advanced guard of the workers' revolu- tion. For this purpose the Communists should have Communist fractions in all the trade unions and factory committees and acquire by their means an influence over the labour movement and direct it. In a word, whether with or without a split, the aim is to subordinate. We shall now note the practical application of the Communist trade union principles, according to the method of Lenin already quoted, "We must know how to apply, at need, knavery, deceit, illegal methods, hiding truth by silence, in order to penetrate the very heart of the trade unions, to remain there and to accomplish there the Communist task." THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 177 As soon as the Trade Union Internationale was formed, the leading Bolshevist authority on trade unions, Losov- sky, was delegated to prepare an official pamphlet. This pamphlet was printed in Russian and accepted, but when it was being translated into other languages it occurred to the Moscow authorities that it was indis- pensable as far as possible to keep from the knowledge of the revolutionary labor unionists of other countries the irreconcilable differences between syndicalism and Bolshevist state socialism which had developed in the Moscow conference. Therefore, when it was too late, the two following wireless dispatches were sent abroad: To Litvinov for Asten, Chairman, Russian Trade Union Delegation. Moscow, Sept. 8. The international council of Labor Unions has now been joined by the British Shop Stewards and Workers Committees, Transport Workers ' Federation of Holland, German Syndicalists and Italian Syndicalists. Please shape your policy in accordance with this fact. The aim of the Council is to unite all the Left elements of the Trade Union and Industrial movement. In view of this pp. 56-70 of Losovsky's story of the Council must be re-written before publishing. General Secretary of the International Council of Trades Unions Tomsky. Wireless to Losovsky, Russian Trade Union Delegation, Christiana, Norway. Moscow, Sept. 9. Your booklet on the International Council of Trade Unions will be published in Russian with a foreword and additional matters. The polemic nature of the book- let as far as it deals with industrial syndicalists, shop stewards and Italian Confederation representatives such 178 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS as to make it inadvisable that it should be published in a foreign language. General Secretary of International Council of Trades Unions Tomsky. The passages which it was wished to keep from the non-Russian adherents of the New Red Internationale were those describing the results of the Red Trade Union congress held in Moscow the beginning of July, 1920. Among the most instructive paragraphs are the follow- ing : [We quote from the pamphlet entitled ' ' The Inter- national Council of Trade and Industrial Unions, by A. Losovsky, (S. A. Dridzo) Price 25 cents Published by the Union Publishing Company, New York City.] The German syndicalists, tine British and American representatives of the I. W. W. and the Shop Stewards approached the question from quite a different point of view. They questioned the necessity of any form of dictatorship. They regarded the dictatorship not as the dictatorship of the proletariat, but as dictatorship over the proletariat and categorically protested against estab- lishing this principle. The representatives of the All-Russian Central Coun- cil of Trade Unions proposed the following point on the dictatorship of the proletariat: "The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie must be opposed by the dictatorship of the proletariat as a transitional, but resolute measure, as the only means by which it is possible to crush the resistance of the exploiters, and secure and consolidate the gains of the proletarian government." This formula was adopted by all except the syndical- ists, and the representatives of the I. W. W. and the Shop Stewards. It was difficult to unite these conflicting tendencies THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 179 from the denial of the necessity of a political party to the recognition of the necessity of the inseverable con- nection between the party and the unions, on a single platform. It was still more difficult to reconcile the point of view of the Russian trade unionists on the supremacy of the party over the unions with the various views explained above. The discussion showed one thing, and that was that those elements of the labor movement which denied the political struggle, which denied the necessity of a political party of the proletariat, and the closest bond between the Communist Party and the trade unions could not enter the new international trade union centre, because the whole idea of international organiza- tion of the revolutionary unions lay in gathering all the economic and political organizations of the working class into one body the Third International for defen- sive and offensive operations against the capitalist class. Pestana [of the National Confederation of Labor of Spain] said that he could not imagine such a relation between the party and the unions as existed in Russia, in Spain, for the reason that in Spain the unions are a great force, while the Communist Party is only in its embryonic stage. He opposed the subordination of the unions to the party, but was in favor of the closest contact between the party and the unions on a national and international scale. Neither the representatives of the British Shop Stewards' or the American I. W. W. objected to co-operating with the Communist Party, but the German syndicalists and the representatives of the industrial Labor Unions were categorically opposed to any co-operation. Thes'e comrades also raised doubts concerning the Soviet system. They asserted that the Soviet system is not applicable to Western Europe, and that the indus- trial unions and the shop stewards' committees will per- form the function of the Soviets there. 180 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS The representatives of the All-Russian Central Coun- cil of Trade Unions were of the opinion that the trade unions should organize sections within the Trade Inter- national. From this it follows that the Third Com- munist International should be the general staff of all the militant revolutionary class organizations of the proletariat. All tJie delegates except tke Bulgarians opposed the Russian delegation. The Italians, French and English, approaching the question from various points of view were inclined to the opinion that an independent inter- national organization should be set up which, while being connected by ideas and organization with the Third International, nevertheless should lead an independent existence. The representative of the German syndicalists and of the Australian I. W. W. were against all connec- tion with the Third International and argued that the trade unions under no circumstances will associate with a political organization. It is characteristic that the same point of view was held by the representatives of the German Labor Unions, Otto Ruhle, who repre- sented the German Communist Labor Party, the dis- tinguishing feature of which is that it denies the neces- sity and usefulness of politically organizing the working class. On this question, as on other questions, the syn- dicalists and the I. "W. W. differed. On this occasion it was due to the I. W. W. supporting affiliation to the Third International. The question that raised most discussion was that of the tactics of the Communist revolutionary elements within the trade union movement in connection with the old mass unions. The question was: Should the old unions be split or captured? Considerable differences were revealed among the delegates on this point. Recog- nizing their weakness in comparison with the German "free" unions which embrace nearly 8,000,000 members, THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 181 the German syndicalists and representatives of the Ger- man Labor Unions declared that the present day "free" unions of Germany were hopeless, that it was necessary to destroy them and only by destroying them it will be possible to conquer the bourgeoisie. The representatives of the I. W. W. held the same viewpoint. In their opinion the American Federation of Labor is an in- vincible fortress. The only thing to do was to abandon it and set up a separate organization outside of it. They further asserted that the reactionary character of the American Federation of Labor is bound up with its very construction and to think of fighting the treacherous policy of Gompers inside the unions was an Utopia. . . . Both the German and the American comrades were clearly illogical, for it is ridiculous to think that it is possible to bring about a social revolution in Western Europe without or in spite of the trade unions. To leave the unions and to set up small independent unions is an evidence of weakness. It is obvious that a conference of representatives of trade unions of various countries could not adopt a point of despair, and it was resolved to "condemn the tactics of advanced revolutionary elements leaving the existing unions. On the contrary, these, must take all measures to drive the opportunists out of the unions, carry on a methodical propaganda for Communism within the unions, and form Communist and revolu- tionary groups in all the organizations for conducting propaganda in favor of our programme." That the conference took up the correct point of view is proved by the Second Congress of the Third Inter- national which sharply opposed the tactics of leaving the unions. The motto put forward by the Communist International, and which is our motto also, is: "Not the destruction, but the conquest of the trade unions." 182 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS It may have been possible on other questions to com- promise in order to secure agreement, but on this car- dinal question of international labor policy no com- promise was possible. These conferences ended in the acceptance of a declara- tion which should serve as a basis for gathering all the revolutionary class unions into one organization. This declaration was discussed for a whole month, and is the result of a compromise between various tendencies. Losovsky quotes the declaration referred to in full. As he himself declares it is vague and for the most part unimportant. But one resolution should be noted to- gether with the signatures: To organize a militant international committee for the reorganization of the trade union movement. This com- mittee will function as the International Council of Trade Unions and will act in agreement with the Execu- tive Committee of fhe Third International on conditions that will be laid down by congresses. Signed : A. LOSOVSKY, All-Russian Central Council Trade Unions. L. D'ARRAGONA, General Confederation of Labor, Italy. A. PESTANA, National Confederation of Labor, Spain. N. SHABLIN, General Syndicalist Labor Unions, Bulgaria. A. ROSMER, Revolutionary Syndicalist Minority, C. G. T., France, N. MIKADO, Communist Minority Trade Unions, Georgia. N. MILKITCH, General Confederation of Labor, Jugo-Slavia (Ser- bia, etc.). THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 183 Losovsky follows this resolution with the following illuminating comment: What is the reason of the vagueness and incomplete- ness of the declaration? It is the fact that several of the organizations represented the General Confedera- tion of Labor of Italy, the unions which Robert Williams and Albert Purcell represent still belong to the Am- sterdam Federation of Trade Unions, and that the leaders of even the revolutionary class unions of Western Europe lag behind the revolutionary masses. It is indeed interesting that Purcell and Williams should be permitted by the organized labor of Great Britain to participate in an organization pledged to a war of extermination against the Amsterdam Interna- tional. The same remark applies to d'Arragona who was later admitted to the Autumn Conference of the Amsterdam Federation of Trade Unions. Losovsky proceeds to claim that the new organization is supported by nine million members. We have already shown the absurdity of this claim with regard to seven million of these, representing Russia and Italy. It may be doubted if the Spanish Confederation wholly accepts Moscow's dictatorship. The claim to "the revolutionary syndicalist minority of France," seven hundred thou- sand members, is absurd. The French labor movement has not yet been successfully disrupted by Moscow and the minority still accepts the discipline of the C. G. T., under Jouhaux, Dumoulin, Merrheim, Bartuel, Bidegary and other militant anti-Bolshevists. Since its formation and the publication of these official pamphlets, the Red Labor Union Internationale has 184 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS proceeded with its work of attempted destruction of organized labor in all countries. In. a recent publication entitled "Two Months' Activity of the International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions," (the official title now assumed by the new Internationale) we read: ' ' The organization of the propaganda of the Council ' ' thus states the pamphlet "has been started and mani- festos have already been issued to the organized workers of Great Britain, America, Germany, India and France. . . . The Council is making arrangements for the estab- lishment in each of the countries of at least one central propaganda committee with its members drawn from the revolutionary unions, where possible, the Communist Party. They will not hesitate to form more than one National committee where these are necessary. These committees are to undertake extensive propaganda throughout the unions by means of the publication of manifestos, the use of labor papers, by conferences of the unions, by controversy in the press, by the organiza- tion of speakers, distribution of our literature and gen- eral agitation throughout the labor movement." In Great Britain the British Bureau of the Inter- national Council of Trades and Industrial Unions has been formed under the leadership of notorious pro-Bol- shevist British unionists, whose names are known if not yet officially published. Two resolutions are being pro- posed by this "Council" in trade union locals in Great Britain and America and other countries, as follows: 1. To withdraw from the Amsterdam Federation of Trade Unions. 2. To join the new Internationale and send delegates to a world conference at Moscow pledged to sup- THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 185 port ... a revolutionary policy aiming at the world-wide dictatorship of the proletariat. The published program of the Communist Party in America indicates that they have studied carefully the Moscow policy of boring from within and battering from without. Here is its definition of the duty of Com- munist members of trade unions: A Communist who belongs to the A. F. of L. should seize every opportunity to voice his hostility to this organization, not to reform it but to destroy it. The I. W. W. must be upheld as against the A. F. of L. At the same time the work of Communist education must be carried on within the I. W. W. It will be noted that the same effort to capture is to be applied against the I. W. "W. as against the non- Communist unions of Europe. Naturally the elements of the European labor move- ment adhering to the Amsterdam Federation of Trades Unions do not accept the criticisms of the new Inter- nationale although as yet the Amsterdam body has made very feeble efforts to defend itself and its most important international action during 1920 was the violently pro-Soviet resolution for a general strike above referred to. At the Congress in London in November, the Federation passed the following resolution in reply to the Moscow Trade Union manifesto: The Congress observes that the signatories of this manifesto set down their declaration of war by writing that the International of Moscow will destroy the ''Yel- low" Amsterdam International. 186 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS The Congress considers, judging from the facts of the situation, that these attacks do not emanate from the Bussian proletariat and that the latter could not be regarded as in any degree responsible for them. Further, the Congress considers that these caluminous criticisms and this declaration of war prove either a total ignorance of the composition and actions of the International Fed- eration of Trade Unions or else an evident bad faith arising out of the unwholesome desire to destroy the workers' organizations in every country. (From Justice, December 2, 1920.) Throughout Europe the labor elements supporting the International Trades Union Federation and those sup- porting the Second or Socialist Internationale are largely identical. Perhaps because it had been longer under attack, the Second Internationale at its meeting in Brus- sels, a few weeks before the International Trade Union Congress of London, passed a far more resolute anti- Bolshevist resolution signed : ARTHUR HENDERSON, M.P. (Great Britain). EMILE VANDERVELDE (Belgium). J. RAMSAY MACDONALD (Great Britain). P. J. TROELSTRA (Holland). OTTO WELS (Germany). ARTHUR ENQBERG (Sweden). CAMILLE HUYSMANS (Belgium), Secretary. From this resolution we may quote the following: They [the Bolshevists] trod the desires of the Rus- sian people in the dust, and in place of democracy they established an armed dictatorship, not of the proletariat, but of a committee. Now they are attempting to impose their will and their decrees upon the Socialist and Labour THE NEW RED LABOR UNION 187 Parties of the whole world. They belong to the old world of Tsardom, not to the new world of Socialism. They have insulted twenty -seven millions of organized trade union workers by calling them "scabs" and have declared their intention to disrupt the trade unions. . . . They may have ended wage-slavery; they have estab- lished State-slavery and misery. They have robbed the workers of freedom of movement and of combination and are preventing the creation of economic democracy. This resolution undoubtedly indicates the real state of mind of the trades unions of Europe towards the Russian Soviets. However, neither of these resolutions has led to any effective action of any kind against either the international machinations or the subsidized propa- ganda of Bolshevism. [For a later declaration of the Amsterdam Federation see the following chapter.] XII EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED LENIN, in the summer of 1920, abandoned his policy of excluding all persons from Russia who were not Bol- shevists. Socialist and Labor delegations were admitted from England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and Sweden which contained non-Bolshevist members. Few if any of their members belonged to the moderate wing of the European labor movement. The majority were pro-Bolshevists and the others represented the revolu- tionary or orthodox "center" of the movement. On returning to their various countries the majority of these witnesses condemned Bolshevism, root and branch. Serrati, Dugoni, Vacirca and d'Arragona, of the Ital- ian Socialist and labor union delegation, after their visit, declared that while the capitalist regime had been destroyed "it has not been replaced by anything that meets even the most elementary needs of a civilized peo- ple." Crispien, the revolutionary leader of Germany's Independent Socialists, said that under the Third Inter- nationale ' ' a tyranny almost as bad as that of capitalism would prevail." Mrs. Snowden of the British Mission declared not only that the Soviets were anti-socialist and anti-democratic and anti-Christian, but that everybody she had met in Russia outside the Communist party "goes in terror of his liberty or his life." Serrati, editor of Avanti and revolutionary leader of the Italian 188 EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 189 Socialists, stated that the Russian people are passive and indifferent and quoted Lenin to the effect that fifty years would be necessary to complete the work of the revolution. The eminent German Socialist, Dittmann, one of the radical members of the German delegation, reported that Russia was entirely under the control of the Bolshevist Party with 604,000 members, and that in one month last summer 893 people were shot by order of the special revolutionary tribunals and a much larger number unreported were executed "by administrative orders." This has happened since the Bolshevists were accredited all over the world in "intellectual" and "liberal" organs with having abolished terrorism. Tom Shaw, a member of the British delegation, pointed out that the working people of Russia were in a condition of actual slavery. Both Professor Ballod of the German delegation and the Italians, in their official report, concluded that the Bolshevists are absolutely incompetent economically. Professor Ballod states that the Soviet leaders have proven themselves "wholly incapable of effecting an economic restoration in Russia" and that "bureaucracy is as bad as it was under the Czar and is on the as- cendent. ' ' The Italians, including the revolutionary Serrati, de- clared that the Soviet as an experiment had proved itself a failure, though the British report held that, as an experiment, it would prove valuable to other countries (carried out it will be noted, at the expense of the Russian and not of the British people). The Italians and Germans regarded the existing resistance to the Soviet oppressors as justifiable and inevitable. The 190 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS British report referred to this resistance under the Soviet term "counter-revolution" and concluded that the Soviet Government was supported by the Russian people. The Italians, as we have said, held that the pop- ulation was passive and indifferent, while the above- named Germans, admirers of the Soviet and the Third Internationale, discovered after investigation in Russia, that the Soviet regime was a tyranny without support outside of the Bolshevist Party. The second disillusionment of European labor came with the ultimatum of the Third Internationale (the famous 21 points) by which Lenin declared to his wor- shippers that they either had to accept the absolute dictatorship of Moscow or be excommunicated, and that they had to destroy the International Federation of Trades Unions as being a scab organization. Finally, most frightful disillusionment, the Polish people were not conquered by the Soviets, in spite of all the revolutionary measures taken by radical labor throughout Europe to help the Bolshevist would-be con- querors. All these events took a little time to have their full effect; it was not until the labor union and Socialist Party congresses of the fall and winter that European labor began to find itself but it has answered Lenin at last ! After a visit to the Caucasus J. R. MacDonald demanded that Great Britain protect the Social-Demo- cratic Labor Government of Georgia and bring about an alliance of that country with Armenia and the Tartar Republic. As Soviet Russia, Lenin's official organ in America, rightly remarks, this alliance would be for defense against the Soviets as well as against the Turks. EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 191 Also Kautsky of Germany and De Brouckere of Bel- gium, after visiting Armenia, recommended military in- tervention and Huysmans, Secretary of the Second Internationale sent the appeal to that effect to the Social- ist parties affiliated with that Internationale (including the British Labor Party). As between Turkish and Bolshevist armies and those of Great Britain and France, not only Georgia and Armenia, but also MacDonald, Kautsky and Huysmans were for the armies of the capi- talist governments a far cry from the summer's policy of assisting in the forcible Sovietizing of Poland ! The French labor unionists, especially, are lucid, con- sistent and outspoken. The Executive of the C. G. T., the French Federation of Labor, issued an appeal to French workmen to remain faithful to the union labor movement as against the Communist element that re- cently split the Socialist Party at Tours, and on Febru- ary 15th (1921) this Executive was re-elected, though by a narrow margin Moscow having spent millions of dol- lars in an attempt to purchase the Congress. In a long manifesto the Federation Executive charged the Com- munists with the intention of "destroying international syndicalism that comprises 27,000,000 workers," and asked labor to support a program of social improvement, rather than "personal ambitions and greeds." The Federation Council squarely accepted Lenin's declaration of a war to the finish and authorized Jouhaux by a vote of 103 to 3, with twenty-two abstentions, to take any necessary measures (including expulsion) against any members who obeyed the orders of the Third Internationale and organized nuclei of Commun- ists for the purpose of throwing out all non-Bolshevist 192 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS leaders. This was a logical step in pursuance of the Orleans Congress of the C. G. T. Congress in September, 1920, which issued a declaration of independence as against all outside political control. Merrheim, Secre- tary of France's leading union, the Metal Workers, at this congress denounced the Soviet Government and described Lenin as "a sanguinary megalomaniac and a pitiless tyrant, the greatest menace to the Russian revolu- tion. ' ' When the Bolshevists yelled in protest Merrheim replied that these were the very words used only a few years before by the Franco-Russian, Rappoport, now one of the French Bolshevist leaders. Bartuel, Secretary of the next largest union, the Miners, who has also been sustained in a recent congress of his union, describes Bolshevism as a militaristic and reactionary movement worse than capitalism. At the French Socialist Congress at Tours in Decem- ber, 1920, at which the revolutionary majority accepted Lenin as Czar and changed the name of the organization to Communist Party, the minority (itself Marxian and revolutionary) showed that the French General Strike of May 1st, 1920, engineered and subsidized by the Rus- sian Bolshevists, had almost destroyed the organized labor of France. M. Faure presented to the delegates figures showing material decreases of the membership in the union syn- dicates of the Seine and of the French Confederation of Labor. The Confederation membership has decreased from 1,500,000 to 600,000, he declared, while that of the Seine syndicates has decreased from 292,000 to 140,000. He asserted this decrease was due to the ex- tremist element, and that the party would suffer further losses if the revolutionary spirit of Moscow prevailed. EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 193 The most recent delegation to Moscow was that of the Spanish Socialists. Upon his return to Spain, Rois, one of the two delegates, a member of the last Spanish Parlia- ment, reported as follows: Any one who analyzes the curious state of mind in which the Russian leaders find themselves cannot fail to note that it is due to the contempt in which the notions of liberty and democracy are held. We pointed out to Comrade Kobetsky that the Spanish party was accustomed to refer policies to a referendum. "That," he said, "is playing democracy." "How and when," we asked Lenin in our interview with him, ' ' can we get out of this period of the dictator- ship of the proletariat which you call a period of tran- sition and arrive at a regime of freedom for labor unions, press, and individuals?" "We ourselves," Lenin replied, "have never talked of liberty. All we have said is 'dictatorship of the proletariat.' That dictatorship we are exercising here from the seat of power in behalf of the proletariat. In Russia the working class, properly so-called, is in a minority. That minority is imposing its will and will continue to do so as long as other elements in society resist the economic conditions that Communism lays down. The peasants and the country people do not think readily in our terms. They have the mentality of shopkeepers, petty bourgeois. That is why Denikin, Kol- chak, and Wrangel have found some support among them. . . . "However, to come back to your question: The period of transition will be a long one with us I should say from forty to fifty years. Other countries, such as Eng- land and Germany, where industry is better organized than here, will recover from the proletarian dictatorship much sooner, though the development of revolution in those countries is taking longer than we had hoped." 194 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS Perhaps the most complete and authoritative statement of the attitude of European labor towards the Soviets and their Communist Internationale is to be found in the open letter of the International Federation of Trades Unions dated March 23, 1921. This letter is signed by the Executive Committee of the International Federa- tion of Trades Unions as follows: Jouhaux (France), Martens (Belgium), Fimmen and Oudegeest (Holland). Only the name of the President of the organization, J. H. Thomas, of Great Britain, is lacking. This letter was in reply to a very insulting epistle sent by Zinoviev, as President of the Communist Inter- nationale, in which all the leaders of the International Federation of Trades Unions were declared to be "scabs" and traitors to the working class. The Executive Committee of the International Feder- ation of Trades Unions declares in its reply that it is ready to support the Russian people and the Russian revolution to the full extent of its powers, but it demands in return from the representatives of the Russian people that ' ' they shall pursue a similar line of conduct towards the Internationale of Labor Unions." We see from this statement that the International Trades Union Bureau recognizes the Bolshevist Government as representing the Russian people in spite of the absolutely contra- dictory evidence it furnishes later in the same letter. Of the Soviet regime it demands only a friendly attitude to the Trades Union Internationale ; in exchange for this, it is ready to give Bolshevism an absolutely free hand in Russia to continue the despotic rule over labor de- scribed in the remainder of the letter! However, since this introductory statement shows that the International EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 195 Federation of Trades Unions wishes to be as friendly to the Russian Bolshevists as the latter will allow, the indictment that follows has all the more weight. The International Bureau Executive continues: Up to the present we have received nothing from those who claim the right to speak in the name of the Russian people but curses, libels and lies, which have been spread without the shadow of proof. And is it possible for us to fail to state that we find it difficult to believe in your good will towards the pro- letariat ? Is it not a principle of your party to subordi- nate the freedom of labor unions to political considera- tions 1 You suggest that we should hold conferences to- gether, but up to the present you have not shown that you have learned how to consort with decent people. The proof of this is found in your lies and in the fact that you cannot write a letter without filling it with insults and you haven't even enough cleverness to introduce variety in your attacks. Your dictionary of curse words, gentlemen, is as monotonous as the starva- tion and the news of massacres in your country. For three years you have been destroying the freedom of the labor movement in Russia with fire and sword. And you have done this so thoroughly and radically that the "White Terror" of the bourgeois Government of Hungary is but a weak reflection of your "Red Terror." The Executive of the Trade Union Internationale then turns its attention to the ignorance displayed by the Bol- shevists in all their discussions of the labor situation of other countries and especially of the labor unions. It points out that the International Trades Union Federa- tion has twenty-four million members and estimates on the basis of Zinoviev's own statement that the new Red Labor Union Internationale has less than a million mem- 196 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS bers outside of Russia. The International Executive then continues: That Zinovieff, who speaks in the name of a so-called Labor Union Internationale, is ignorant of all this only shows that he has no conception whatever of the Euro- pean labor union movement. This does not surprise us. We are only too well aware that this gentleman knows the labor union movement only from books and pam- phlets and was never a working man. Was it not Lenin who, shortly before the October (1917) coup d' etat, wrote as follows of this Mr. Zinovieff: "I knew he was an ignoramus ; but I didn't know he was also a coward." And this man accuses us of not being working men! The confusion which runs among the ideas of Mr. Zino- vieff is very comprehensible to us. He is simply unable to conceive of a labor union movement which is fully independent of the political movement. Did he not write in the ''Communist Internationale" on April 9th "You (the Communist Party) bind the political struggle and the economic struggle together as a single whole and supervise the political struggle of the proletariat just as you conduct its economic struggle. ' ' We declare frankly that the situation in which the labor organizations of your country find themselves, owing to your conduct, doesn't entitle you to give ns lectures. Lectures from you ! You do not appear to know, Mr. Zinovieff, that your standpoint has long ago become obsolete and belongs to the past. For more than thirty years the labor unions of Central and Western Europe have freed themselves from the guardianship of all poli- ticians and political parties and experience has taught them they have acted wisely. All your arrogance doesn 't do away with the fact that you are setting about to begin the development of the labor union movement all over again. Try, gentlemen, to be a little less behind the times and endeavor to gain some knowledge of the facts. EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 197 It is of little consequence whether these facts are known to you or not, or whether, according to the teach- ings of Lenin, you regard all poisons and tricks and cloakings of the truth as permissible in order to gain control of the labor unions. (This refers to the Macchia- vellian expression of Lenin cited in previous chapters.) In our letter of the 15th of December we wrote: "If you or other representatives of your labor union move- ment chance to desire to gain more information about our movement during which you would perhaps con- vince yourselves that you have hitherto done nothing but to damage your own movement and to harm the prole- tariat then we are ready at any time to give you the desired information. If we haven't had the opportunity of enjoying the blessings of your regime personally, at least we know your system and your principles. We know your theories, as they are printed on paper, but we also know them as applied in practice, which is well illustrated by your over-crowded prisons. We know the dependence of the Soviets upon the Communist Party which has created a new autocracy. We know the happy condition the Russian people finds itself in and the welfare your rule has brought on paper. And we hear with satis- faction that you regard Middle and Western Europe as not yet being ripe for your beneficent plans. Look once more at our letter of December 15th which in your haste to answer quickly you read too super- ficially. For there we declared that we are very ready to teach you, however painful it is to us that men equipped with such complete power as you have can scarcely open their mouths or take a pen in hand with- out giving new proof that they are without the slightest knowledge of those things which men in their position ought to know. We declare to you that we are still ready to undertake this work of instruction. 198 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS The Soviet Government itself has been forced to take notice of the rising tide of hostility in the ranks of European labor. The British Labor Party protested against the severe punishment meted out to Russian trade unionists who had been bold enough to give them truthful information during their visit to Russia. This protest had no effect upon the barbarian ears of the Soviets. They refused to moderate their policy in the slightest degree in response to such ineffective verbal pressure but at the same time felt obliged to issue one of their usual statements attempting to cover their actions by a few utterly meaningless phrases. The state- ment, signed by Krassin, was in part as follows : The Soviet Government is responsible to the working masses of Russia and to the world proletariat for the maintenance of the success of the Russian Socialist Revolution. The Soviet Government is extremely desirous to main- tain the best relations with the British Labor Party, and with other proletarian or semi-proletarian organiza- tions. The Soviet Government is extremely grateful to them for the support they have given to the cause of the Russian Revolution. [The British Labor Party has not even threatened to withdraw or curtail this sup- port! ed.] The Soviet Government . . . considers, as is the case at present, that the sole organ having any right to impose conditions upon the Soviets and to make any complaints to them is the Russian working masses and the revolutionary organizations of the proletarian world. That is, the Russian Communists, claiming to repre- sent the revolutionary proletariat of the world, assert their right of life and death over anybody who happens to fall into their power, no matter how large the pro- EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 199 letarian majority which condemns their action ! It may be doubted if a more thinly veiled defense of sheer des- potism was ever offered to the world. In spite of the fact that the Russian people are allowed no voice whatever within that country, it must not be supposed that they have been successfully stifled. In- numerable representative individuals from all classes, including the trade unions, men and women whose integrity and credentials cannot be questioned, have escaped, to give voice to the opinions of the Rus- sian people. Moreover, the largest labor organiza- tions of Russia, that is the rank and file of the trade unions, without reference to the new leaders ap- pointed by the Soviets or the new imaginary organiza- tions created by them, have been in continued contact with European labor. The same is true of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, numerically the most important political organization in Russia. There is, moreover, no misunderstanding whatever of the Russian situation in neighboring countries, such as Germany and Scan- dinavia, where the contact with Russia has been close and continuous and pro-Bolshevist "intellectuals" can deceive nobody. But besides this testimony the labor delegations visiting Soviet Russia have secured reports from the trades unions and from the socialist parties as organizations. Some of these are published in the report of the British Labor Delegation. From the most important, the address to British labor by the Executive Committee of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, signed by Chernoff, Gotz, and other leaders known to the entire labor and socialist movement of Europe, we quote the following characterization of the Bolshevist regime: 200 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS "We quite understand that the British proletariat, deafened by the clamour of the recent world slaughter, not yet recovered from the wave of national chauvinism, would like to see in Russia, in spite of the libels of petty bourgeois penny-a-liners, the living example of how a people, after having shaken off its feet the dust of the old world, has risen on the ruins of the war conflagration to a new work of creation, free and untrammelled by any chains or bonds. We quite agree that some illusions must be left, and that the proletariat of Europe has created ''the Red Legend" of a great country where Socialism, unrealisable to Philistine bourgeoisie, has not only been tried, but has now existed for nearly three years, in spite of the civil war, the blockade, and an artificial isolation from the rest of the cultured world, amid the gibes of inimically-inclined people hedging it round. We are well aware that this Red Legend, this Red Myth may exert an elevating influence on the ardour of the proletarian vanguard, causing its heart to beat faster, proudly raising its head, and straining to tenseness its revolutionary muscle. We are loath to confess that this Red Legend must react with a force directly proportionate to the square of its distance, and that the number of models of admirable energy worthy of imitation is far below the number of examples show- ing us how a Social Revolution should not be accom- plished. We would ask you to try and distinguish among the many strange and Asiatically-savage facts of Bolshevik- Communist dictatorship something more than the mere mad pranks of a Caliban. -Do not forget that revolution- ary passion carried to fanatical excess, added to the im- patience characteristic of an active temperament, often prove fatal. You must always bear in mind that Russia has lived for ages under a regime of all-around oppres- sion on the part of the Government; that the training of the people in ideas of democracy demanded a period of time too long for the patience of a great number EUROPEAN LABOR DISILLUSIONED 201 of the people themselves. The temptation proved too strong to effect a leap right over the dead level of unpreparedness with the help of enlightened despotism and the rod of Peter the Great shaped according to a new Communist fashion. Taking all this into considera- tion, it will, perhaps, be clear to you why in the tumul- tuous chaos of the revolutionary tempest, one part of the Russian Socialists so quickly and easily cast off the outward gilding of scientific Socialism, showing under- neath the Asiatic nature of enlightened despotism with a Communist lining. In spite of abundant evidence of this character con- tained in its report, the British Labor Delegation, being divided, took no decisive stand and made statements flatly contradicted not only by other delegations, but by some of their own delegates, as already noted. This led to further protest by the Socialist-Revolution- ists represented in Paris by another leader known in all countries, 0. S. Minor a man, like the others, who has spent most of his life in prison or exile because of his socialistic and revolutionary opinions. Referring es- pecially to the failure of the British Labor Party to do anything on behalf of the oppressed population of Rus- sia, in particular the labor unionists and agriculturists, Minor said: Still less can we understand how so many of the Socialists can, with a clear conscience, justify the methods of Bolshevism for Russia, at the same time rejecting them for their own countries. Such a view shows either a conscious or unconscious deep contempt for the Russian people, an insulting attitude toward them as towards a nation of slaves for whom the Com- munism of the Whip is the most appropriate, natural and national brand of Socialism. 202 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS Such an attitude towards the working people of Rus- sia, proved to be wrong by innumerable uprisings of workers and peasants, we, Russian Socialists, never ex- pected to meet with among our European comrades, and, we declare, that we cannot leave such a perversion of mutual relations within the international Socialist family without our most emphatic protest. XIII THE CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION BOLSHEVIST diplomats have repeatedly acknowledged that one of the purposes of their negotiations for gov- ernmental trade agreements is to obtain de facto recog- nition of the Soviet Government with all the prestige that this implies. Krassin, the chief negotiator with Great Britain, has acknowledged that there can be very little trade for some time and Mr. Hughes has demon- strated that trade will depend upon the extension of credit by somebody or other to the Soviet Government. The whole negotiations are described by Lenin in a speech before the railwaymen, reported by the Moscow wireless on April 3rd, 1921, as "our game with the bourgeoisie. ' ' But an additional purpose of these trade negotiations is Bolshevist propaganda throughout the world and as part of this propaganda the word has been passed along by the Bolshevists for foreign consumption that by the very act of making trade agreements with capitalists, Communism in Russia was being abandoned. There is no foundation for this claim. All the revolu- tionary wars, insurrections, general strikes and agita- tions openly subsidized by the Bolshevists throughout the world for the past three years have been going on simultaneously with the agitation for trade agreements and the effort to interest capitalists through concessions, 203 204 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS that is, through alienating the patrimony of the Russian people without their consent. There can be no question that the Soviet British trade agreement was a tremendous victory for Soviet prestige both in Russia and in every country of the world. There is ample ground for the following statement from Soviet Russia published on April 16, 1921 : The full extent of the victory won by the workers of Russia over the rulers of England is revealed in the text of the Anglo-Russian trade agreement published in this number of Soviet Russia. In the issue of January 22, 1921, there were published in Soviet Russia two prelim- inary draft agreements, one submitted by the British government on November 29, and the other submitted by the Soviet government on December 13, 1920. A comparison of the two papers Afforded a view of the divergent and conflicting claims and purposes of the Russian and British Governments respectively. The final agreement is the outcome of the contest in which Mr. Krassin, representing the power and purpose of the Russian workers, met Sir Robert Home, representing the power and purpose of the British imperialists. It was a test of strength, a significant skirmish, between Communism and Capitalism. We purpose here to ex- amine the final document paragraph by paragraph, to see by comparison with the previous drafts which of the two powers prevailed in the adjustment of their oppos- ing contentions. The examination will show that the Workers' Republic won an" overwhelming victory over the Capitalist Empire. Point by point, clause by clause, the claims and principles advanced by the Soviet Gov- ernment broke down the objections and evasions of the British Government. The final document consists of a preamble and four- teen articles, and is accompanied by a separate declara- tion of claims, signed on the same day. CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 205 The very fact that the British Government claimed until the last moment that there was to be no political recognition of the Soviet Government shows how this aspect of the agreement was a defeat for Great Britain and a victory for the Soviets a victory undoubtedly due, as Krassin claims, to the Bolshevist propaganda. Yet it was only a few weeks after the agreement had been signed that the British courts declared that it amounted to a de facto recognition, in spite of the fact that it is distinctly stated in that document that it was only preliminary to such recognition. A tremendous comment on this trade agreement is the fact that the Bolshevists apparently continued to expend the same vast sums of money in Great Britain for the overthrow of the British Government after that agreement as before. Apparently the Bolshevists put special hopes upon the coal strike (April and May, 1921). Although this was a purely economic struggle in the fundamental questions raised, a very considerable minority in the organization openly attempted to take advantage of the crisis for revolutionary purposes. In view of this fact the official statement made in the House of Commons by Edward Shortt, Secretary for Home Affairs, on May 12, is of the utmost significance : The British Government is considering the possibility of introducing legislation to prohibit the receipt of foreign money in the United Kingdom intended to pro- mote a revolutionary movement or to sustain a revolu- tionary propaganda. If such agitation was indeed being carried on by the Bolshevists it was done with the encouragement of the British Government itself. 206 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS From the very first Lenin has advocated this policy, with the expressed belief that Bolshevist-aided revolu- tions would soon overthrow all existing governments and release him from his obligations. As early as February, 1919, Tchitcherin, the Soviet Commissary for Foreign Affairs, sent to the governments of Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States a note in which he said: Seeing the great interest which has always been shown by foreign capital for the exploitation of Russia 's natural riches, the Russian Soviet Government is disposed to grant concessions upon mines, forests, and so on, to citizens of the Entente Powers, under conditions which must be carefully determined so that the economic and social order of Soviet Russia should not suffer from the internal rule of these concessions. At the meeting of the Russian Communist Party on March 15th, 1921, Kameneff used an identical argument (Moscow Wireless, March 18, 1921) : . . . Can we without the assistance of foreign capital rapidly restore our economic life? No, we cannot. We must have the assistance of foreign experts. By heroic concentration of strength we might have restored our economic life independently" but for this we would re- quire a very long time. Yes, the foreign capitalists will not assist us for noth- ing! We will have to pay them a liberal tribute. . . . World capital having received this tribute from us will increase the productive power cf Russia and will thus play the role predicted for it by Marx: Capital will dig for itself its historic grave. CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 207 In the Pravda (November 30th, 1920), Lenin defended the policy of concessions with these expressions: We have defeated the world bourgeoisie up to the present owing to the fact that they can not unite. Both the Brest-Litovsk and Versailles treaties have tended to keep them apart. A bitter hatred is now growing up between America and Japan. We are utilizing this, and are offering Kamchatka on a long lease, instead of giving it away without payment, considering that Japan has taken away already by military force a large territory in the Far East. . . . I must repeat, concessions are a continuation of war on an economic basis but instead of destroying they reconstruct our productivity. They surely will try to deceive us, to evade our laws, but for such purposes there exist our respective institutions, all Russian Extra- ordinary Commission, Moscow Extraordinary Commis- sion, Provincial Extraordinary Commission, etc., and we are sure that we shall be victorious. It must be remembered that these Extraordinary Com- missions are the official Soviet bodies for enforcing the "red terror." In his closing speech at the March (1921) Congress of the Russian Communist Party Lenin exposed all the main elements of Bolshevist policy. His internal policy, as there developed, has been discussed at the end of Chapter VII. It is closely linked with the external policy. Once more after the adoption of his "new" proposals by the Congress as in his opening speech, he based everything on the coming world revolution: "But when we look on our party as the hearth of world revo- lution, and observe the campaign now being conducted 208 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS against us by the governments of the world there is no room for doubt." That is, the growing certainty of world revolution, removes all doubt of Bolshevist suc- cess in impending negotiations with foreign governments for the official recognition of the Soviet title to Russia and all the resources and human chattels it contains! The Soviet leader does not deny the weakness of the Soviets. But let it be remembered that he ceaselessly drills his followers to the thought that all other nations are weaker still! As he says in his speech, "All this in- formation given out by the international bourgeoisie . . . reveals once more how we are surrounded by enemies, and how feeble these enemies have grown within the past year!" Bearing this blind and fanatical optimism in mind we can better grasp other parts of the speech in which Lenin shows he is counting absolutely on getting from America the credit and supplies to revive Russian Bol- shevism by means of a trade agreement on the British model! As quoted by Soviet Russia (May 14, 1921) Lenin said: The world press syndicate freedom of the press con- sists there in the fact that 99 per cent of the press is owned by financial magnates manipulating hundreds of millions of rubles opened the world-wide campaigns of the imperialists, with the aim of preventing, first, trade relations with England which were begun by Krassin, and also the imminent conclusion of trade relations with America. This shows that the enemies who surround us, no longer able to bring about intervention, are counting upon a revolt. The events at Kronstadt revealed ties with the international bourgeoisie; and in addition to it we see that more than anything else they now fear, CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 209 from the practical standpoint of international capital, the sound establishment of trade relations. But they will be unable to prevent it. There are now in Moscow representatives of big capital, who did not believe these rumors, and they have told us how in America a certain group of citizens carried on an unprecedented agitation for Soviet Russia. This group made extracts of every- thing printed about Russia for a few months in news- papers of the most diverse kinds about the flight of Lenin and Trotsky, about Lenin's shooting Trotsky and vice-versa, and they published all this in the form of a pamphlet. Better agitation for the Soviet power cannot be imagined. The contemporary American bourgeois press has completely described itself. . . . Was there ever a wilder farrago of gross exaggeration and misstatement ? A few foolish rumors are taken from thousands of substantiated dispatches and reproduced as giving a fair picture of the American press on Russia ! But we must note, especially, that Lenin appreciates the aid he is getting in his propaganda from "a certain group" of American citizens, while at the same time he openly boasts of the British trade agreement from the practical standpoint as a defeat of international capital, i.e., a defeat of all existing governments (all regarded as capitalistic by Lenin) and of the existing social system. A part of the so-called trade agitation has been the claim that the Soviets were abandoning Communism not only in making trade agreements with capitalists but in other directions. Such changes as have in fact taken place could be so absurdly misinterpreted and misunder- stood only by those who have made no effort to follow the Bolshevist policy. The Bolshevist chiefs, and es- pecially their foreign diplomats, have never hesitated 210 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS to use any and all methods for their purposes. In a letter which appeared in Pravda on December 10th, 1920, addressed to the Italian Socialists at a moment which Lenin thought to be "the eve of the revolution," the Bolshevist leader thus advised the Italian revolu- tionists : The Italian party, in order to carry out the revolution successfully, must still take a certain number of steps to the Left without tying itself down and without for- getting that circumstances may very well demand some steps to the Right. This advice is typical. Foreign trade agreements and other negotiations regarded abroad as compromises are not only presented to the Russian people as victories but are evidently so considered by the Bolshevist chiefs. The apparent concessions made to capitalism by the Rus- sian Communist Congress about the time of the British Trade Agreement are explained by Krassin, the chief negotiator, as follows: As we recede from wartime conditions and advance toward reconstruction and peace, we proceed toward a business-like adaptation of our methods to those of real life. We call it neither going to the right nor to the left. Whatever reports we may receive here, I am sure that Lenin will never abandon his communistic prin- ciples, but as he is a practical man with a practical mind, he may decide in one matter or another to take a practical course with regard to present-day conditions. A Moscow wireless (April 16th, 1921) cynically and frankly states the Bolshevists' plan to repudiate any CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 211 treaty at the first favorable moment, as they did that of Brest-Litovsk. It may be said that the following dis- patch is for home consumption by the ultra-revolutionists of Soviet Russia. But as long as such matter uncon- tradicted is the sole pabulum officially furnished the Russian people (the opposition being prohibited) how can we expect anything but a continuation of treaty- breaking to result ? The dispatch is as follows : The present peace is only an armed truce. We cannot base our peaceful policies on the present peace treaties, because the peace itself is not secured. All Europe is boiling. We do not know what will happen to-morrow. All our treaties are just like the Brest treaty and may suddenly become pieces of paper. But it makes no dif- ference to us at present. We are striving to get in touch with the Far West (East?). Our chief aim still remains the fight with capitalism. But first we must give our country time to rest. For a while we are smiling sweetly at Lloyd George and shaking his hand, but our policy remains the same. We shall profit by the short breath- ing space offered us and then deal a death blow to capi- talism. Among the working people the agitation for a trade agreement with Soviet Russia is put forward on the double ground that it would give employment to the American workers and that it would relieve the suffer- ing in Russia. The argument that it would give employ- ment to American labor is fully answered by Secretary Hughes in response to a letter by President Gompers requesting information in this matter. President Gom- pers' letter was as follows: 212 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS March 15, 1921. SIR: If it is not incompatible with the public interest would it be possible for me to secure information from your department relative to the situation in Soviet Russia? There is much propaganda being circulated in the United States claiming that the demand for manufac- tured goods in Russia is so great and the purchasing power of the Russian Soviet government so vast it is almost impossible to determine the actual capacity of the Russian market to absorb goods of foreign manu- facture. Ths scarcity of goods is laid to the blockade, which as I understand it was removed July 8, 1920. It is said that the pressing needs of the Russians are large quantities of the following : "Locomotives, cars, rails, tires, springs, etc. Tractors, plows, reapers, mowers, binders, harrows, and other tools, large and small, binder twine, motor trucks. Leather goods: shoes, etc. Textiles. Chemicals, drugs, soap. Notions. Belting, all kinds. Oil well machinery and piping. Mining machinery. Rubber goods. Ties. Typewriters. Sewing machines. Surgical instruments. Machinery and machine tools of all sorts. Printing presses, and printing supplies. Small tools. Sheet iron. Tool steel. Camera and camera supplies, films, etc. Raw cotton. ' ' It is also claimed that the Commissariat of Foreign Trade of the Soviet government has given orders for the purchase of the following in America : "Agricultural machinery, including tractors, mowers, binders, reapers, plows, cultivators, etc., specified orders to the extent of $50,000,000.00; machine tools, between $3,000,000.00 to $5,000,000.00; small tools, files, drills, etc. between $3,000,000.00 and $5,000,000.00; 30,000 to 100,000 tons of rails; 10,000 tons of locomotive ties; 250 tons of spring steel for locomotive -and car springs; 10,000 tons of sheet iron; 50,000 tons of piping." CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 213 These figures, it is claimed, do not represent all the orders that would be placed at once. It is alleged that the Federal Reserve Board has refused to permit the transfer of funds to the United States from the Soviet Russian government in order to pay for the goods, although payment in gold is guaran- teed. It is claimed that the American manufacturers are prevented from accepting the gold on the probability that it was illegally acquired by the Soviet government. It is also said that the following raw materials are ready for shipment to the United States if only the American government recognizes the Soviet government of Russia: "Lumber, unlimited quantities; Flax, 20,000 tons; Hemp, 10,000 tons; Furs, 9,000,000 pelts; Bristles, sorted and cleaned, 1,000 tons; Horse hair, 2,000 tons; Manganese ore, 250,000 tons; Asbestos, 8,000 tons; Hides, 3,500,000 skins; Platinum, large quantities; Petroleum and petroleum products, 2,000,000 tons." Another claim made is that if the restrictions placed on trade with Russia were removed it would place in operation many mills, shops and factories now closed down and would give employment to the unemployed of America. This propaganda is being widely circulated among labor organizations and I have received many letters asking me what is the truth. In this connection I have repeatedly called attention to the action of the American Federation of Labor convention at Montreal, June 7-19, 1920, as follows : Resolved, That the American Federation of Labor is not justified in taking any action which could be construed as an assistance to, or approval of, the Soviet government of Russia as long as that government is based upon authority which has not been vested in it by a popular representative national assemblage of the Russian people ; or so long as it endeavors to create rcrolutions in the well-established, civilized nations of 214 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS the world; or so long as it advocates and applies the militarization of labor and prevents the organizing and functioning of trade unions and the maintenance of a free press and free public assemblage." This resolution was based on a report made by the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor and previously unanimously approved by the convention as follows: "Bolshevism has been a lure for some of our people and its doctrines have been propagated with great vigor. This hideous doctrine has found converts among two classes of people principally those intellectuals, so- called, who have no occupation save that of following one fad after another, and those so beaten in the game of life that they find no appeal in anything except the most desperate and illogical schemes. The rank and file of the organized labor movement, as was to have been expected, has given no countenance to the propaganda of Bolshevism, but has, on the contrary, been its most effective opponent in America." Whether the statements in the circular are true or untrue, the widest publicity of the facts should be given. It would be more effective if it could be in official form. If that can not be done the proper knowledge should be transmitted to the various organizations that have resolu- tions on the subject before them for approval or disap- proval and only awaiting an answer from me as to the real situation. I, therefore, request, if it is not contrary to the rules of the Department of State or if not against the public interest, that you furnish me with such information as you might have on the matter. I would also like to know the amount of exports and imports between the United States and Russia for a number of years preced- ing the war, as it is claimed these would be enormous because they have been enormous in the past. This question is of vital interest to the people of the United States as they should not be misled by propa- CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 215 ganda that is consciously or unconsciously directed to aid the Soviet government of Russia against the interests of our people. I therefore trust that I am not asking too much. Yours very truly, (Signed) Sam'l Gompers. President, American Federation of Labor. Hon. Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Here is the response of the Secretary of State: DEPARTMENT OF STATE. Washington. Mr. Samuel Gompers, President, American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C. SIR: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter of March 15, 1921, in regard to the trade relations between the United States and Russia. I recognize the interest of the American people in the questions you raise and I take pleasure in replying in detail to them. In reply to your first statement, it is evident that after years of war, during which normal industry was diverted to the production of war supplies and accumulated stocks were consumed, Russia does not now possess important , quantities of commodities which might be exported. It should be remembered that in addition to the period of the war against Germany, Russia has now passed through more than three years of a civil war during which industrial activities have been almost completely paralyzed. In fact the devastation of industry in Russia has been so complete, the poverty of the country is so 216 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS acute, the people are so hungry and the demand for commodities is so great that at present Russia represents a gigantic economic vacuum and no evidence exists that the unfortunate situation above described is likely to be alleviated so long as the present political and economic system continues. Though there is almost no limit to the amount and variety of commodities urgently needed by Russia, the purchasing power of that country is now at a minimum, and the demand must consequently re- main unsatisfied. In some respects the condition of Russia is analogous to that of other European countries. The war has left the people with diminished productive man-power and largely increased numbers of the disabled, the sick and the helpless. In one important respect, however, Rus- sia's condition does not correspond to that of other bel- ligerent states in the world war. While those states are taking such action as is likely to reestablish con- fidence, the attitude and action of the present authorities of Russia have tended to undermine its political and economic relations with other countries. The Russian people are unable to obtain credit which otherwise might be based on the vast potential wealth of Russia and are compelled to be deprived of commodities immediately necessary for consumption, raw materials and permanent productive equipment. The effect of this condition is that Russia is unable to renew normal economic activities, and apparently will be unable to obtain urgently needed commodities until credits may be ex- tended to Russia on a sound basis. It should not be overlooked that there has been a steady degeneration in even those industries in Soviet Russia that were not dependent upon imports of either raw material or partly finished products, nor in which has there been any shortage of labor. The Russian production of coal, of iron and steel, of flax, cotton, leather, lumber, sulfuric acid, or copper, of agricultural products, of textiles, and the maintenance and repair ^ CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 217 of railroad equipment, have degenerated steadily from their level of production at the time of the Bolshevik revolution. There can be no relation of the failure of all these industries to blockades or to civil war, for most of them require no imports, and the men mobilized since the Soviet revolution were far less in number than before that event. During the existence of civil war in Russia, her ports were in the hands of anti-Soviet forces. However, trade with the world through Baltic ports was opened in April, 1920. Restrictions on direct trade with Russia were removed by the United States on July 8, 1920. The conclusion of treaties of peace with the Baltic States enabled Russia freely to enter upon trade with Europe and the United States. Both American and European goods have been sold to Russia, but the volume of trade has been unimportant due to the inability of Russia to pay for imports. As suggested in your second statement, it is true that agents purporting to be representatives of the so-called Bolshevist Commissariat of Foreign Trade have placed immense orders for the purchase of goods in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is estimated that perhaps six and one half billion dollars' worth of orders have been booked. But shipments as a result of these orders have been made only in small volume because the Soviet agents were unable either to pay cash or to obtain credit so as to insure the delivery of the goods ordered. The actual result of the placing of these immense orders on the part of the Soviet regime has not, therefore, ma- terially stimulated industry in the countries in which the orders* were placed, but has chiefly resulted in further impairing the credit of the Soviet regime due to its inability to carry out the transactions which it had undertaken. Much has been written about the large sums of Rus- sian gold which have found their way abroad in ex- change for foreign goods. In reality, such transfers of 218 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS gold have been relatively small. According to the most liberal estimates the Soviet authorities do not now have in their possession more than $175,000,000 worth of gold. It is apparent that the proportionate share of this amount of gold which might be expected to reach the United States, and even the immediate expenditure of all of this amount of gold in the United States, would not have a pronounced or lasting effect upon the ad- vancement of American industry and trade, while its loss to Russia would take away the scant hope that is left of a sound reorganization of the Russian system of currency and finance. In response to your question regarding the transfer of funds from Russia to the United States it may be stated that there are no restrictions on the importation of Russian gold into the United States, and since Decem- ber 18, 1920, there have been no restrictions on the exportation of coin, bullion and currency to Soviet Rus- sia or on dealings or exchange transactions in. Russian roubles or on transfers of credit or exchange transac- tions with Soviet Russia. It is true that no assurances can be given that Russian gold will be accepted by the Federal Reserve Banks or the Mint, in view of the fact that these public institutions must be fully assured that the legal title to the gold accepted by them is not open to question. It has often been stated that if the Government of the United States would recognize the so-called Soviet Gov- ernment, Russia would immediately export immense quantities of lumber, flax, hemp, fur and other commo- dities. The facts in regard to supplies in Russia com- pletely refute such statements. Russia does not to-day have on hand for export commodities which might be made the basis of immediately profitable trade with the United States. Furthermore, the transportation system is utterly inadequate to move any large quantity of goods either in the interior of Russia or to Russian ports. The export of such commodities as exist in Rus- CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 219 sia at the present time would result merely in further increasing the misery of the Russian people. The issue of January 1, 1921 of "Economic Life," an official organ of the so-called Soviet Government, reports that the production of lumber amounted to seventy million cubic feet in 1920, as compared with four hun- dred million cubic feet in 1912. The production of lumber is, therefore, less than one-fifth of the pre-war level, even though the lumber industry is in far better circumstances than other important Russian industries. This same situation is further illustrated by the follow- ing article appearing in the "Economic Life" of Feb- ruary 6, 1921: "By December 20 the following supplies were gath- ered: Horse hides 3,831 12 per cent of am t expected Colt hides 1,142 35 ' ' Cattle hides 22,701 20.6 " Calf hides 15,679 14.6 " Sheep hides 37,771 58 " Flax poods 22,871 12 " Hemp 6,863 18 '< Bristles 99 14 " "The Government of Ekaterinburg, which occupies a high place in furnishing food supplies, for several rea- sons has proven to be very weak in furnishing raw materials. "During the past week the results of the work have become still smaller, reaching zero in some places, in spite of the extreme energy and intensity of the work." Note is taken of the statement that if restriction on trade with Russia were removed, many mills, shops and factories in this country, which are now closed, would resume operations, and unemployment would thereby be diminished. Even before the war, trade with Russia, including both exports and imports, constituted only one and three-tenths per cent of the total trade of the United States. In view of the fact that the purchasing 220 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS power of Russia is now greatly diminished, as compared with pre-war years, it is evident that at present even under the most favorable circumstances the trade of Russia could have but a minor influence on the indus- trial and agricultural prosperity of the United States. Under conditions actually prevailing in Russia, that trade is of even less importance; a statement amply demonstrated by the fact that though restrictions on trade with Russia have been eliminated, no business of consequence with that country has developed. According to the reports of the Department of Com- merce, our total trade with Russia for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, was as follows: Imports from European Eussia $26,958,690 Imports from Asiatic Eussia 2,356,527 $29,315,217 Exports to European Eussia $25,363,795 Exports to Asiatic Eussia 1,101,419 $26,465,214 Total trade between Eussia and the United States $55,780,431 The total imports into the United States for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, were $1,813,008,234, and the total exports for the same year were $2,465,884,149, the total of both imports and exports amounting, therefore, to $4,278,892,383. For the calendar year 1920, the total trade of the United States was: Exports $8,228,000,000 Imports 5,279,000,000 Total $13,507,000,000 Excluding Finland, the Baltic States, Armenia, and Georgia and Siberia for the periods when they have been CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 221 free of Soviet Domination, the trade of the United States with Russia during 1920 was absolutely negligible, prob- ably amounted to less than $4,000,000. Though figures for trade with Russia during that period are not available, there is every reason to believe that it was of far less relative importance than in 1913. It is unquestionably desirable that intimate and mutually profitable commercial relations on an extensive scale be established between the United States and Rus- sia, and it is the sincere hope of this Government that there may be readjustments in Russia which will make it possible for that country to resume its proper place in the economic life of the world. I am enclosing herewith as of possible interest to you in this connection, copies of the Department 's announce- ment of July 7, 1920, of the Treasury Department's announcement of December 20, 1920, of a statement made by Mr. Alfred "W. Kliefoth, of the Foreign Trade Adviser's Office of this Department, before the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa- tives, and of an announcement made to the press by the Secretary of State, dated March 25, 1921 ; also a brief statement of the total trade with Russia for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1911 and June 30, 1912. I would also invite your attention to the recently published hearings of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, entitled ' ' Conditions in Russia, ' ' and of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, entitled "Relations with Rus- sia." The former was held in compliance with House Resolution No. 635, and the latter in compliance with Senate Joint Resolution No. 164. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, (Signed) Charles E. Hughes. Enclosures: (5) as stated above. 222 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS This disposes of the argument that a trade agreement with Soviet Russia could materially aid American in- dustry. Even if trade were resumed on a pre-war basis, which is practically impossible, it would scarcely increase our exports by one per cent. But our foreign trade absorbs only one-tenth of the product of American in- dustry. It is, therefore, practically impossible that the reopening of Russian trade on this comparatively large scale could keep American industry going for more than three or four hours! Secretary of State Hughes has given a conclusive answer to the argument that a trade agreement might be materially helpful to the Russian people as long as they are still the helpless subjects of the present "gov- ernment." In addition we may point out that two efforts were recently made to help the Russian people, one through the Norwegian statesman, Nansen, and the other through the Russian cooperative organizations. The Soviet Government refused both offers because the supplies to be sent were not to be left in the hands of the Bolshevists. Rather than to lose this chance of strengthening their own hold over the Russian people they decided to let the suffering of their helpless subjects continue. It must also be remembered in this connection that whatever the hidden objects of the British trade agree- ment, the position of the British Government would be strengthened by a similar policy on the part of the United States. The report sent out by Moscow wireless on November 17th, 1920, that "England is carrying on in the United States agitation in favor of a renewal of trade relations with Soviet Russia" is, at least, plau- CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 223 sible. A number of well-known Englishmen have been agitating for that object by speeches and by articles in the American press. Possibly the intention is that America shall provide the credits without which the British- Soviet agreement must remain an empty form. This agitation certainly offers no reason why America should fall in with the designs of the British Govern- ment. The British Empire is threatened by the Soviet military forces around the Black Sea and in Mesopo- tamia, Persia, Afghanistan and the Pamir region and by Bolshevist propaganda not only in these districts but also in Turkey, Egypt, India, and China. The foreign policies of the powerful British Labor Party as well as the Independent Liberals are thoroughly pro-Soviet. Certain groups of British capitalists fear they might get less out of Russia from a democratic and patriotic peasants' government than from the cynical diplomacy of the Bolshevists ready to give to foreigners the title to everything in Russia, so far as this is necessary to secure the means needed to hold their power and prevent popular government. In the same way a certain school of British diplomats note that Lenin is ready to alienate Russian territory in the belief he can win it back or at least control it by instigating revolutions. These financiers and diplomatists have another view of future probabilities. In the meanwhile they are ready to take advantage, for the purposes of the British Empire, of Lenin's willingness to sign away Russia's territory, natural wealth, and industries. These are certainly among the leading motives of British opinion on Russia and so undoubtedly influence British policy if, indeed, they do not dominate it. 224 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS America neither hopes to gain anything at the cost of the Russian people, nor has this nation anything to fear at home or abroad from the band of insane fanatics momentarily in control of that great country. We are concerned with Bolshevism as a world evil, which operates in varying degrees in many countries. But we regard it neither as an indomitable power which we are forced to recognize and conciliate, nor as a movement with which honorable governments can afford to co- operate as the beneficiaries of its unparalleled crimes against the Russian people. The danger that the pro-Soviet agitation may be revived is not past. Krassin has boldly stated that the British trade agreement was obtained not by any funda- mental concessions of communism to capitalism but by propaganda, and he plans to station himself now in Canada, whence he says he hopes to return "via New York." Provided only he will come "as an individual" certain Senators say he will be welcome. But he can operate quite effectively from Canada. What makes the Soviet campaign in America danger- ous to some extent is the curious espousal of the Soviet cause by numerous so-called "liberals" and by the radi- cal minority grouped in various camps. Historians will look back upon this support of Soviet- ism with a smile, a sardonic grin at the pretenders of to-day. Liberalism, when it is true to its mission, seeks the extension of democratic practice and the enlargement of the opportunities in democracy. It is the implacable foe of autocracy and of all dictatorial practices. The diseased state of mind that calls itself liberalism in CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 225 America at the moment is guilty of betraying democracy in the most portentous situation of our time. It sneers at the democracy of America, turns up a supercilious nose at the great American labor movement, and rushes with abnormal appetite into the social and moral violence of Moscow. Perhaps some of this phenomenon is due to the fact that the so-called liberals of America have fallen victim to a mania for mysticism and Moscow is the small end of the cornucopia from which is emitted the great haze the great narcotic supply of all the conglomeration of mental morphia addicts. What this condition makes necessary is that Americans must distinguish between the true liberals and the false liberals, the real liberalism and the pretense of liberalism. The pretending liberalism is for Sovietism in Russia and for American recognition of that reversion to bar- baric type. If, as we are told, all that now is required by the Soviets is a de facto recognition, let there be no mis- apprehension as to what that means. That means recog- nition to the extent that we declare the Soviet Govern- ment to be the government in fact the government that is. An official Soviet wireless on September 10 said: The only thing which the Russian Government de- mands is that de facto relations be resumed, as it is obvious that otherwise trade relations are impossible; therefore such resumption of de facto relations is in- separable from trade relations. Plain notice, this, to the world that Russia will pay 226 OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS in trade for recognition. It is an offer to bribe the sup- posedly gold-hungry Americans. What the Soviets hope would follow such de facto recognition and free resumption of trade would be un- limited opportunity to attempt corruption of the world by propaganda. The United States has lifted all trade bans. This government interposes no legal, barrier to trade with Soviet Russia. A treasury order signed on December 20 took down the last barrier, permitting exportation of gold to Russia and allowing dealings in exchange. This is surely enough. If it is too much may be a fair subject for discussion. But we have gone that far. Surely, democratic America will take no further step in compromise with an autocracy the like of which the world has never seen. Information about Russia continues to accumulate. Only those who are determined not to be informed can remain uninformed. Upon encountering a questioning opponent the exponents of Sovietism say that we do not know what are the conditions in Russia and advise us to "wait until we can get the truth." This is subterfuge that deceives only the unthinking. We do know the great, main truth about Russia and we do have fairly accurate information as to the material conditions of the people. It is perhaps no fault of the rigid control of visitors' permits exercised by the Soviets that numerous persons have gone into Russia as fervent Soviet advocates only to come out running, hands over their faces, like fugitives from a scourge. That ardent Socialist H. G. Wells found conditions so terrible that for a defense of the Soviets he had to resort to the CAMOUFLAGED TRADE AGITATION 227 plea that no other government could stand and that if the Soviets fell we should have a nation of Asiatic hordes running stark wild over the country. The all important thing that Americans know about Russia is that in every sense the Soviet Government and the philosophy back of it are absolute in their denial and repudiation of democracy. This is the principle that has been at stake in all the history of the contest between freedom and slavery, self-government and auto- cratic government, light and darkness. This was the issue in the struggle against Prussianism. It was the issue when the first man, in answer to a spark that had been lighted in his soul, struck the first blow against imperial rule. It is the issue over which the agonies of the world have rolled. It is an issue on which Ameri- cans can not be deceived and from which they will not be budged. APPENDIX I AMERICAN LABOR AND RUSSIA THE friendship of American Labor for the Russian people has been invariable, steadfast, and unqualified. In a series of cablegrams the American Federation of Labor and its President have expressed at length their ardent interest in the permanent welfare of Russian labor and of the Russian people generally. This meant uncompromising hostility to Czarism and it means un- compromising repudiation of Sovietism. These cable- grams prove that American labor understands the ele- ments of the Russian situation and takes its stand heart and soul with Russian labor and the Russian people. CABLEGRAM Washington April 2, 1917. Tstcheidze [President of the "Soviet"] Petrograd Representative of working people of Russia. Accept this message to the men of labor of Russia. We send greeting. The newly established liberty of Russia finds a warm response in the hearts of America's workers. We rejoice at the intelligence, courage and the conviction of a people who even while concentrating every effort upon defense against foreign aggression have reorgan- ized their own institutions upon principles of freedom and democracy. But it is impossible to achieve the ideal state immediately. When the right foundation has been 228 AMERICAN LABOR AND RUSSIA 229 established, the masses can daily utilize opportunities for progress, more complete justice, and greater liberty. Freedom is achieved in meeting the problems of life and work. It cannot be established by revolution only it is the product of evolution. Even in the Republic of the United States of America the highest ideals of freedom are incomplete but we have the will and the opportu- nity. In the name of America's workers whose watch- words are Justice Freedom and Humanity we plead that Russia's workers and masses shall maintain what you have already achieved and practically and rationally solve the problems of today and safeguard the future from the reactionary forces who would gladly take ad- vantage of your lack of unity to reestablish the old regime of royalty reaction tyranny and injustice. Our best wishes are with Russia in her new opportunity. SAMUEL GOMPERS President American Federation of Labor. (S/ABLEGRAM Washington, D. C., April 23, 1917. Tstcheidze, Petrograd Executive Council American Federation of Labor in regular session here as representatives of the labor move- ment of America send fraternal greetings to you and through you to all who have aided in establishing liberty in Russia. "We know that liberty means opportunity for the masses especially the workers. The best thought, hopes and support of America's workers are with your efforts to form a government that shall insure the per- petuity of freedom and protect your rights and new found liberty against the insidious forces and agents of reaction and despotism. May we not urge you to build 230 APPENDIX I practically and constructively. Our heartfelt sympathy is with you in the great opportunity and work that lie before you. SAMUEL GOMPERS JAMES DUNCAN JAMES O'CONNELL Jos. F. VALENTINE JOHN R. ALPINE H. B. PERHAM FRANK DUFFY WILLIAM GREEN W. D. MAHON JOHN B. LENNON FRANK MORRISON Executive Council American Federation of Labor Washington, May 6, 1917. Workmen's and Soldiers' Council [Soviet] of Deputies, Petrograd, Kussia. The gravest crisis in the world's history is now hang- ing in the balance, and the course which Russia will pursue may have a determining influence whether democracy or autocracy shall prevail. That democracy and freedom will finally prevail there can be no doubt in the minds of men who know, but the cost, the time lost and the sacrifices which would ensue from lack of united action may be appalling. It is to avoid this that I address you. In view of the grave crisis through which the Russian people are passing we assure you that you can rely absolutely upon the whole-hearted support and cooper- ation of the American people in the great war against our common enemy, Kaiserism. In the fulfillment of that cause the present American Government has the AMERICAN LABOR AND RUSSIA 231 support of 99 per cent, of the American people, including the working class both of the cities and of the agricul- tural sections. In free America, as in free Russia, the agitators for a peace favorable to Prussian militarism have been allowed to express their opinions so that the conscious and unconscious tools of the Kaiser appear more influ- ential than they really are. You should realize the truth of the situation. There are but few in America willing to allow Kaiserism and its allies to continue their rule over those non-German peoples who wish to be free from their domination. Should we not protest against the pro-Kaiser Socialist interpretation of the demand for no annexation, namely, that all oppressed non-German peoples shall be compelled to remain under the domina- tion of Prussia and her lackeys Austria and Turkey? Should we not rather accept the better interpretation that there must be no forcible annexations, but that every people must be free to choose any allegiance it desires, as demanded by the Council of "Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies? Like yourselves, we are opposed to all punitive ana improper indemnities. We denounce the onerous puni- tive indemnities already imposed by the Kaiser upon the people of Serbia, Belgium and Poland. America's workers share the view of the Council of "Workmen's and Soldiers' Deputies that the only way in which the German people can bring the war to an early end is by imitating the glorious example of the Russian people, compelling the abdication of the Hohen- zollerns and the Hapsburgs, and driving the tyrannous nobility, bureaucracy and the military caste from power. Let the German Socialists attend to this, and cease their false pretenses and underground plotting to bring about an abortive peace in the interest of Kaiserism and the ruling class. Let them cease calling pretended "in- ternational" conferences at the instigation or connivance of the Kaiser. Let them cease their intrigues to cajole 232 APPENDIX I the Russian and American working people to interpret your demand, "no annexations, no indemnities," in a way to leave undiminished the prestige and the power of the German military caste. Now that Russian autocracy is overthrown, neither the American government nor the American people ap- prehend that the wisdom and experience of Russia in the coming constitutional assembly will adopt any form of government other than the one best suited to your needs. We feel confident that no message, no individual emissary and no commission has been sent, or will be sent, with authority to offer any advice whatever to Russia as to the conduct of her internal affairs. Any commission that may be sent will help Russia in any way that she desires to combat Kaiserism wherever it exists or may manifest itself. "Word has reached us that false reports of an American purpose and of American opinions contrary to the above statement have gained some circulation in Russia. We denounce these reports as the criminal work of desperate pro-Kaiser propagandists circulated with the intent to deceive and to arouse hostile feelings between the two great democracies of the world. The Russian people should know that these activities are only additional manifestations of the "dark forces" with which Russia has been only too familiar in the unhappy past. The American Government, the American people, the American labor movement are whole-heartedly with the Russian workers, the Russian masses, in the great effort to maintain the freedom you have already achieved and to solve the grave problems yet before you. We earnestly appeal to you to make common cause with us to abolish all forms of autocracy and despotism, and to establish and maintain for generations yet unborn the priceless treasures of justice, freedom, democracy and humanity. American Federation of Labor, SAMUEL GOMPERS, President. AMERICAN LABOR AND RUSSIA 233 CABLEGRAM Washington September 13, 1917. Kerensky Premier Russian Revolutionary Government Petrograd Russia At a tremendously important national conference three days of representatives of labor and socialists at Minneapolis Minnesota September fifth sixth seventh called to solidify working class and all people of United States among other declarations the following was adopted with great enthusiasm and without a dissent- ing voice or vote. We address ourselves to the: "Sons of liberty in all lands are now watching with heavy hearts the desperate contest of their brothers in spirit and arms now battling on the plains of Russia. Born amidst the thunders of the greatest war of all times, the great Russian democracy brought to all lovers of man's freedom a new hope and inspiration. Assailed on all sides by a terrible and insidious foe, now spread- ing death and devastation in its ranks and now masquer- ading as a friend and penetrating, under the guise of a revolutionist into the very councils of the revolution, the Russian democracy is now passing through the most critical time in its struggle for existence. The American Alliance for Labor and Democracy sends greetings to the fighters for liberty in Russia as brothers in the same cause. The aims of the Russian democracy are our aims; its victory is our victory and its defeat is our defeat ; and even the traitors that assail the Russian democracy likewise assail us. In the con- flict for the liberty of Russia, the liberty of America is likewise at stake. Every Russian soldier who faces un- flinchingly the enemy in the field is striking a blow for the liberty of America. The American Alliance for Labor and Democracy, representing every loyal thought of American Labor and 234 APPENDIX I American Socialism, pledges and dedicates the American working class to the support and service of the Russian democracy. It calls upon the working people and the Socialists of America and also upon the government of the United States to strain every effort and resource in their command to the aid of the Russian democracy. ' ' SAMUEL GOMPERS, President, American Federation of Labor; President, American Alliance for Labor and Democracy. CABLEGRAM Washington March 12 1918. All Russian Soviet, Moscow. We address you in the name of world liberty. We assure you that the people of the United States are pained by every blow at Russian freedom, as they would be by a blow at their own. The American people desire to be of service to the Russian people in their struggle to safeguard freedom and realize its opportunities. We desire to be informed as to how we can help. We speak for a great organized movement of working people who are devoted to the cause of freedom and the ideals of democracy. We assure you also that the whole American nation ardently desires to be helpful to Russia and awaits with eagerness an indication from Russia as to how help may most effectively be extended. To all those who strive for freedom we say, Courage. Justice must 1 triumph if all free people stand united against autocracy. We await your suggestions. American Alliance for Labor and Democracy. SAMUEL GOMPERS, President. This cablegram was sent before the full news of the overthrow of the Constitutional Assembly had reached America. APPENDIX II THE SOVIET ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE No better test can be found of any social system than its administration of justice. When that is utterly dis- orderly and without semblance of equity, the whole regime, we may be certain, is chaotic to the core. In an article in the Journal of the American Bar Asso- ciation, Judge Fisher writes that agents of the Soviet's supreme tribunal may combine in one person arresting officer, prosecutor, judge and executioner. He found secret courts engrossed in litigation to recover bribes promised by tradesmen but not paid. A former Moscow lawyer justified the system of wholesale bribery, he said, on the ground that it had become impossible to live at all without it. Judge Fisher found widespread trading despite the abolition of private property. Such illegal transactions were so general that they only could have been carried on with the connivance of corrupted officials. Judges, the writer of the article found, were subject to no restraint but the "Revolutionary conscience." An effort was made to induce all workmen to act in that capacity, and in Petrograd there already had been more than 40,000 judges though there were only 40,000 workers. Judges even in small villages had absolute power to carry out their decrees and the Cheresvechaika "the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Suppres- sion of Counter Revolution, Speculation and Sabotage" continues to employ capital punishment in parts of Russia which were declared to be under military rule, 235 236 APPENDIX II although, the death penalty was abolished in 1920. Offenders in Moscow whose deaths were desired were transferred to a military district for trial. Judge Fisher says that the accused are not permitted to face their judges and are not told the nature of the charge nor given a chance to explain. Many have been executed without even knowing that they had been con- victed. The tribunal "has no regard for the action of any other departments of the State." It is responsible to no one, and even the communist officials fear it. There is provision for appeal from the local or departmental Cheresvechaika to the All-Russian, but ordinarily the defendant has been executed before the appeal is per- fected. Controlled by no law the tribunals, it is said, openly use their power to avenge the wrongs attributed to old-time enemies. Judge Fisher, who is Chairman of the Russian and Ukrainian Committee of the Joint Distribution Commit- tee, ends with a plea for the innocent sufferers. (Summarized by the New York Times.} APPENDIX III THE TURKO-BOLSHEVIST ATTACK ON THE LABOR GOVERNMENT OP GEORGIA AN APPEAL TO LABOR THE Government of Georgia has issued from Constan- tinople an appeal to all Socialist Parties and Labor organizations "in the name of the Georgian people, whose liberty and independence has just been destroyed by the armies of the Russian Bolsheviks." The appeal describes how the Moscow Government have striven to extend their power over Georgia by "sovietizing" the country through insurrections organized by its subsidized agents. These efforts being unsuccessful, others were tried, and military operations resorted to. On November 28, 1920, Trotzky, in a long speech before the Commissars of the Communist Party as- sembled at Moscow, pronounced the death sentence on the Republic of Georgia. "Armenia being sovietized, it is now the turn of Georgia," he said. "It will be suf- ficient to tighten our hold in order to connect Baku with Batum." Bolshevist troops were massed at the frontiers despite protests of the Georgian Government. After refusing to discuss matters the Moscow Government launched the attack in the middle of February. The attack on Tiflis was at first repulsed. On February 21 a rjadio telegram 237 238 APPENDIX III was despatched by the President of the Georgian Re- public requesting Tchitcherine to "formulate the objects of the war you are conducting against us. Perhaps we can come to an understanding without bloodshed.", Tchitcherine did not reply. Similar messages to Trotzky and Lenin shared the same fate. Finally, Georgia was surrounded by Bolshevist troops, aided by those of the Turks at Angora. ' ' The treachery of the Angora Government deprived us of the last pos- sibility of continuing the struggle on the line at Rion. Our troops, surrounded on two sides by the armies of two great military powers Soviet Russia and Turkey were condemned to perish without the smallest hope of success. On March 17 the Georgian Government decided to cease fighting, and to disband the army. This step laid open tjie road to Batum to the Bolsheviks. On March 18 the Government left Batum, and a few hours later the Bolshevist troops entered the town." The appeal concludes : The Georgian people has the right to rely in this struggle on the fraternal support of the international proletariat. And it is to you, comrades, that we come for this support! You have always condemned wars of conquest. Are the authors of this war against Georgia less culpable because they hide their imperialistic char- acteristics under the flag of Communism? We ask you to stigmatize the crime of the invaders of our country, and the hypocrisy of those who have re- course to bayonets to wipe out the influence of socialistic ideas and to implant their own ideas. Raise your voices, comrades, and demand from the Government of Moscow that it withdraws its armies from Georgia; that it gives the Georgian people the right to THE TURKO-BOLSHEVIST ATTACK 239 govern themselves, and to organize their life and their State according to their own wishes. NOE JORDANIA, President of the Govern- ernment of Georgia, the Central Committee of the Social-Democratic Party of Georgia, and the Soviet of the Workmen of Tiflis. NICHOLAS TCHEIDZE, President of the Constituent Assembly, member of the C. C. of the Social-Democratic Party. EUGENE GUEGUETCHKORI, Minister of Foreign Affairs, member of the C. C. of the Social-Democratic Party. NOE RAMISHVILI, Minister of the Interior, member of the C. C. of the Social-Dejnocratic Party. The whole Labor and Socialist press of Europe, both the moderates of the Right Wing and the orthodox Marxists and revolutionists of the Center, with few ex- ceptions, has denounced this conquest as an example of the crudest imperialism. For example, Die Freiheit of Berlin, organ of the Independent Socialists, condemns the Soviet action against Georgia as "a brutal imperial- istic coup d' etat." (Die Freih&it, April 28th, 1921.) EXTRACTS from his Speech on the Tax in Kind before the Congress of the Russian Communist Party, March 15, 1921. (Reproduced by Soviet Russia, May 15, 1921.) In Russia the industrial workers are in the minority